The remarks by Union Minister for Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises Narayan Rane has kicked off a political storm with the Congress questioning the central government over the state of the Indian economy. Addressing the media in Pune on Monday, Rane said India was likely to be hit with recession after June and the Centre was working towards handling it effectively and minimising its impact on the country.
Latching on to the minister’s remarks, the Congress party on Tuesday asked what the Prime Minister and the Finance Minister “were hiding from the country”.
“Narayan Rane, Union Cabinet Minister of MSMEs – that have been destroyed since 2014 – forecasts recession in India after 6 months. He said this in Pune to a G20 gathering. What are the PM & FM hiding from the country?” Congress general secretary Jairam Ramesh tweeted.
Speaking to reporters after his inaugural address at the two-day G20 Infrastructure Working Group (IWG) meeting in Pune, Rane referred to the global recession and said that Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the central government are making efforts to ensure that the people of the country are not impacted by the slowdown.
“There is a global recession and it is in many countries. This is what I have gathered from the discussion in the meetings of the Union government. The recession is expected to hit India after June,” Rane said, according to PTI.
“As I am in the Cabinet, some information is available to us and whatever advice we get from PM Modiji, on that basis, we can say that there is an economic recession in big countries. It is a reality,” he added.
“To ensure India is not impacted or to stop (the economic slowdown), which is expected to come after June… Modiji and the Centre are making efforts to ensure the people of the country are not impacted by the slowdown,” the minister said.
(With PTI inputs)