New Delhi, Sep 1 (UNI) The Communist Party of India (CPI-M) on Tuesday blamed the "phenomenal and unprecedented" fall in the GDP growth rate by 23.9 per cent as the cumulative impact of demonetisation, GST implementation and the abrupt, unplanned national lockdown that had all contributed to the "destruction" of the Indian economy.
In a statement released here, the party Polit Bureau said the primary cause for this was the massive fall in domestic demand, due to sharply declining purchasing power in the hands of the people. It said that instead of addressing this issue by vastly enhancing public investments to build much-needed infrastructure and general large-scale employment, which would have raised the demand in the economy, the Modi government was focused on pursuing the neo-liberal trajectory of making more funds available for investment by private corporates and giving them greater tax concessions.
Demanding a massive hike in public investments coupled with cash transfers and free food as the only manner in which any meaningful economic recovery was possible, it said the data released by the government Monday showed the total devastation of the Indian economy that began much before the Covid-19 pandemic emerged.