New Delhi, December 5: Former Union Finance Minister P Chidambaram addressed the press a day after walking out of the Tihar jail following his 106-day stay in the prison. Barred by the Supreme Court from speaking on details related to the INX Media case, the Congress veteran chose to spoke on the "dismal" state of economy. Putting onus on the Centre for the deepening economic slowdown, Chidambaram said the Modi government has been "clueless" on how to revive the economy. GDP Growth Forecast Slashed From 6.1% to 5% by RBI Monetary Policy Committee for FY 2019-20, Inflation Target Also Revised.

Chidambaram questioned Prime Minister Narendra Modi over his muted response to the "alarming" state of economy. "The PM has went unually silent and left it to his Ministers to address the issue," he said, adding that the Congress is eager to offer constructive solution by the Centre is unwilling to heed any advise.

To end the cycle of economic slowdown, the Centre must recognise what has plagued the country's economy. "If diagnosis is wrong, prescriptions will also be wrong," Chidambaram said, adding that all policy decisions taken by the government in the last five years had dealt a lethal blow on the economy.

"Demonetisation, protectionism and centralised control of decision making have turned out to be catastrophic," Chidambaram claimed, adding that the data collected over the last five years has proved the Modi government as an "incompetent manager".

According to the former Union Minister, the country would be "lucky" if a growth rate of even 5 percent is clocked in the current fiscal. "RBI in a matter of seven months has reduced its forecast from the original 7.4 made in February 2019 to 7.2 in April 2019, reduced to 6.1 percent a month ago and today it has been reduced to 5 percent," he said.

"I cannot a recall a incident when the Reserve Bank reduced its growth forecast this rapidly. Either the RBI was extremely incompetent if first predicting the growth rate or the government was extremely incompetent in handling the economy in the last eight months," Chidambaram added.

Citing the recent report published by former Chief Economic Advisor Arvind Subramanian which alleged a flaw in the Centre's GDP calculation rate, Chidambaram claimed that a growth rate of 5 percent would actually be a growth rate of 3.5 percent.

"We will be lucky to end the year if growth touches 5 percent. Please remember Dr Arvind Subramanian’s caution that 5 percent under this government, because of suspect methodology, is not really 5 percent but less by about 1.5 percent," he said.

Chidambaram also expressed his will to visit Jammu & Kashmir, alleging that the state's democratic rights have been trampled upon through the shock abrogation of Article 370. "My thoughts are with the 75 lakh people in the Valley, particularly the political leaders who have been locked up for the past four months," he said.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Dec 05, 2019 01:05 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).