Congress plans protest march over economic slowdown

Former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has said that “all-round mismanagement” by the government has resulted in the slowdown.

The Congress is going to hold a series of protest marches in the last week of November against the Bharatiya Janata Party-led central government over the economic slowdown in the country.

Congress president Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi are likely to take part in a protest rally in Delhi.(Reuters Photo)

Congress president Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandh are likely to take part in one such protest rally, to be held in Delhi.

A Congress officebearer, who did not wish to be identified, said the protests were planned from October 15 to 25 but were delayed due to the assembly elections in Maharashtra and Haryana. There was no official announcement by the party on the postponement.

The Congress is also trying to reach out to opposition leaders to join the protests. “Senior Congress leaders are going to engage with leaders of other opposition parties to explore if they will join us during the protests,” said a party MP, who asked not to be named.

In September, at a meeting of the All India Congress Committee (AICC), chaired by Sonia Gandhi, it was decided that the party will start nationwide agitations against the Centre’s policies, which it said has led to the economic slowdown.

Former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has said that “all-round mismanagement” by the Narendra Modi government has resulted in the slowdown.

Singh had said that the state of the economy was deeply worrying and the 5% GDP growth in the first quarter of this financial year signals that India is in the midst of a prolonged slowdown.

The BJP had hit back at Singh and said he should instead “reflect on his own failures”. “Manmohan Singh should reflect on why he couldn’t maintain a strong economy and give an honest government, why he was so helpless that he had to obey orders from 10 Janpath and had no capacity to take his own decisions,” said commerce minister Piyush Goyal.