This is why Manmohan’s ‘man-made crisis’ barb is not new

New Delhi: Days after the Finance Ministry reported contraction in the GDP growth, former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Sunday slammed the Narendra Modi government blaming its policies for the economic slowdown in the country.
“India has the potential to grow at a much faster rate, but the all-round mismanagement by the Modi government has resulted in this slowdown,” said Singh, who is also an eminent economist.
Calling the slowdown a “man-made crisis”, Singh, in a detailed statement, primarily blamed the Modi government’s decision of demonetisation and a “hastily implemented GST” for the current state of economy.
Even last year, on second year of demonitisation, Singh had hit out at the government for the ‘wounds’ of currency ban move. “It is often said that time is a great healer. But unfortunately, in the case of demonetisation, the scars and wounds of demonetisation are only getting more visible with time,” he had said in a statement.
Even then, he had called the move an “economic misadventures”. However, late Arun Jaitley, who was then Finance Minister had countered Singh calling it a “key step in a chain of important decisions taken by the government to formalize the economy”.
As for the GST, it was the brain child of the Congress. Hence Singh only blamed its implementation, not the idea per say. Even before GST was passed midnight 2017, it was Manmohan Singh who had supported the GST Bills and had told Congress not to break the consensus simply because the treasury bench would perceive to be taking the credits of it. Singh had also called the step as favourable for the country.