'Who is the Pappu now?': TMC's Mahua Moitra targets Centre over country's economic situation

TMC's firebrand Mahua Moitra on Tuesday attacked the central government over the country's economic growth, which she said was going downhill. Citing recent industrial output number which was the worst in over two years, she questioned the Centre on the economic and employment scenarios. Moitra said the Modi government was spreading falsehood about the country's growth and appealed to Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman to take control of the economy.
 
In a debate in the Lok Sabha, Moitra took a swipe at the BJP over its defeat in Himachal Pradesh, saying the ruling party’s president could not hold on to his home state. "Who is the Pappu now?" she asked. Moitra said the current government and the ruling party coined the term Pappu. "You use it to denigrate and signify extreme incompetence. But the statistics tell us who the actual Pappu is," she said.

The TMC leader referred to the latest data released by the National Statistical Office (NSO) and claimed that while the country’s industrial output shrunk by 4 per cent in October to a 26-month low, the manufacturing sector has contracted to 5.6 per cent. "Seventeen of the industry sectors that make up the Index of Industrial Production (IIP) have recorded negative growth rates. Forex reserves have fallen by 72 billion dollars in under a year," she said.

As per the data released by NSO on Monday, the manufacturing sector's output declined by 5.6 per cent in October 2022 as against a growth of 3.3 per cent recorded in the year-ago month.

Moitra also flagged the number of people who renounced their Indian citizenship in the first 10 months of 2022. She said Sitharaman on Monday stated how 50 per cent of Foreign Institutional Investors inflows into emerging markets are coming to India, but the government told the House last Friday that almost 2 lakh people renounced their Indian citizenship in the first 10 months of this year.

This exodus, she said, takes the total number of Indians renouncing Indian citizenship under this government in the past nine years to over 12.5 lakh people. "Is this sign of a healthy economic environment or a healthy tax environment?” she asked, adding, "Who is the Pappu now?"

(With inputs from PTI)