logo
Investment depression inevitable consequence of Modi govt's policies of suppression: Congress

Investment depression inevitable consequence of Modi govt's policies of suppression: Congress

NEW DELHI: The Congress on Saturday said the country's economic and investment growth is sluggish due to the Narendra Modi government's "policies of suppression and oppression".
In a post on X, Congress general secretary, communications, Jairam Ramesh said India's economic growth "stubbornly refuses" to accelerate at the desired and perfectly feasible rate.
The most important reason for this failure, he said, is that private corporate investment continues to remain sluggish in spite of the generous tax cuts in September 2019 and the PLI (production-linked incentive) cash handouts.
Ramesh said the Modi Government's own survey indicates that private sector capital expenditure may well be 25 per cent lower in 2025-26 as compared to the previous year.
"Informed analysts have opined that while banks are willing to lend, companies are unwilling to borrow since the investment environment is not seen to be conducive to expansion.

Orange background

Try Our AI Features

Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:

Comments

No comments yet...

Related Articles

Amid fresh disquiet in Karnataka BJP, rejig buzz as Vijayendra faces turbulence
Amid fresh disquiet in Karnataka BJP, rejig buzz as Vijayendra faces turbulence

Indian Express

time25 minutes ago

  • Indian Express

Amid fresh disquiet in Karnataka BJP, rejig buzz as Vijayendra faces turbulence

The recent flurry of visits by senior Karnataka BJP leaders to Delhi to meet the central leadership has again set off speculations in party circles about the possibility of an impending restructuring of the state unit, which may include the appointment of its 'full-fledged chief' and changes in key posts to accommodate rival groups. The performance of current Karnataka BJP president B Y Vijayendra and Leader of Opposition (LoP) in the state Assembly R Ashoka is said to have come under the scanner of the central leadership for 'putting up a weak front' against the ruling Congress. Vijayendra, son of BJP heavyweight and ex-chief minister B S Yediyurappa, was appointed as the state party chief on an ad-hoc basis in November 2023. Ahead of the upcoming monsoon session of the state Legislature, the BJP leaders have ruffled the central leadership for their perceived 'adjustment brand of politics' with the Congress on several public issues, sources said. In recent weeks the state BJP has been perceived to have let the Siddaramaiah-led Congress government get away lightly over various rows, including the bid for a new caste survey, corruption cases, and a stampede at the Bengaluru cricket stadium involving the deaths of 11 people in the wake of alleged overenthusiasm shown by Congress leaders to felicitate the IPL winning RCB team. There has been a perception in state political circles that the Siddaramaiah government has faced more resistance from within the faction-ridden Congress rather than the principal Opposition. Some BJP leaders had even felicitated Siddaramaiah in February this year – while seeking funds for development of Bengaluru ahead of the state Budget – in a sign of camaraderie. There have also been concerns in a BJP section that the party is not geared to 'effectively counter pro-minority policies' of the Siddaramaiah dispensation, which has always been at the centre of the party's attack against the Congress. Following the BJP leadership's recent crackdown against a vocal state faction, including the expulsion of dissident leader and ex-Union minister Basanagouda Patil Yatnal, the leadership of Vijayendra and Ashoka was seen as 'unchallenged'. However, various recent developments indicate that the state BJP leadership issues have yet to be fully settled. Former state party chief and CM D V Sadananda Gowda said this week that the situation in the state unit was like a 'tinderbox' waiting to explode. 'Anything we speak is seen in the wrong light even by our own leaders. All our leaders are caught up in their own small spheres. Every day goes by in listening to the voices from these echo chambers. It creates an impression that everything is fine. I would say that everything is not okay. There is bubbling unhappiness in the party in Karnataka,' Sadananda Gowda told reporters. 'We have to come out of this factionalism and disgruntlement. Once we emerge out of this, only then will we have the strength to counter the Congress government,' he said. 'If there has to be a unanimous decision on a party leader for the state, then there should be widespread consultations, which should not be restricted to a few leaders. The state BJP core committee's existence currently is only notional. There are no issue-based discussions in the committee,' Gowda claimed. He also said the practice of the state president holding consultations with the core committee to firm up the party's strategies has come to a halt. 'The decision on whether a candidate identified to be the state president is good or bad has to be decided by the party cadre. This is not happening. Otherwise, appoint a full time president and we will adjust to working with the chosen candidate, but this is also not happening. We cannot understand this,' he said. On his part, Vijayendra has refuted suggestions that his recent visit to Delhi was linked to any possible leadership change. He however expressed hope that the leadership would soon pick a full-time state president and name him for the post. 'We are a national party. Everyone's opinion has been taken. I am confident that I have done a very successful work in the last one-and-a-half years. Our workers and leaders are confident. So it will be good… for you…and me too,' Vijayendra said Thursday in Bengaluru after his return from Delhi. 'Now the elections of 14 state party presidents across the country have been completed. Very soon a decision will be made on six or seven more states,' Vijayendra said. 'The appointment of the party presidents for Uttar Pradesh, Telangana and Karnataka have not been made,' he noted, claiming that he had gone to Delhi for 'personal reasons' and that other state leaders had done it too. Even LoP Ashok's multiple visits to Delhi could not be seen as a sign of imminent changes, Vijayendra said. 'Ashok is doing a very good job as the Opposition leader. The MLAs are also satisfied with him. However, there is a discussion in the media about a change of Opposition leaders. This is definitely not right,' he argued. 'Those who were expressing dissatisfaction are now out of the party. Some others have expressed small opinions. Union minister Pralhad Joshi and others are working to resolve issues. Everything will be fine,' Vijayendra said. On Sadananda Gowda's remarks, he said, 'Gowda is a senior. I will meet him and discuss with him. I do not agree that it is a tinderbox situation. It is natural to have minor differences of opinion in a party.' The BJP leadership's decision to name Vijayendra as the state ad hoc chief had come months after the party lost power to the Congress in the May 2023 Assembly polls. This was after the party tried to move away from the shadow of Yediyurappa during 2020-2023. The decision sparked resentment in the state party as senior leaders like Yatnal, Basavaraj Bommai, Shobha Karandlaje and C T Ravi were thus forced to follow Vijayendra, a first-time MLA. In January this year, senior BJP leader and Union minister Shivaraj Singh Chouhan had said that an election would be held for the post of the Karnataka BJP president as part of the organisational polls. This resulted in Vijayendra's rivals stepping up their attacks on him. In March, the party leadership expelled Vijayendra's key rival Yatnal, suggesting that it favoured a full three-year term for him. There seems to be a view in a large section of the state BJP that the leadership would not take the risk of dislodging Vijayendra from his post as it could also cost the party a backlash from its main support group — Lingayats to which Yediyurappa and his son belong. There appears to be however some uncertainty about the continuance of Ashok despite the point that he is from the Vokkaliga community, another dominant group in the state.

Assam CM Himanta says 'socialism, secularism' can be removed from Constitution
Assam CM Himanta says 'socialism, secularism' can be removed from Constitution

The Hindu

time33 minutes ago

  • The Hindu

Assam CM Himanta says 'socialism, secularism' can be removed from Constitution

Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma claimed on Saturday (June 28, 2025) that 'socialism' and 'secularism' are Western concepts, and these words should be struck off of the Constitution. He said these words were included in the Preamble of the Constitution by then-Prime Minister Indira Gandhi and these have no place in Indian civilisation. "How can I be secular? I am a hardcore Hindu. A Muslim person is a hardcore Muslim person. How can he be secular?" Mr. Sarma said. He was speaking after launching in Assam a book titled 'The Emergency Diaries: Years That Forged a Leader' which is based on first person anecdotes from associates who worked with Narendra Modi, then a young RSS pracharak, and used other archival material. The book chronicles the 1975-77 Emergency era and Prime Minister Narendra Modi's role in the 'resistance movement'. Mr. Sarma maintained that the Indian concept of secularism is not about being neutral, but it is about being 'positively aligned'. The word 'secularism' was inserted by people who view it from the western angle, and it needs to be struck off from the Preamble, Sarma added. The CM also claimed that the Western concept of socialism was also imposed by Gandhi. Indian economic principle was based on 'trustee-ship' and helping the marginalised. "The BJP didn't have to even demolish this concept of socialism. PV Narasimha Rao and Manmohan Singh did it for the Congress," he added. He was referring to Prime Minister PV Narasimha Rao and Finance Minister Manmohan Singh who were credited with bringing economic liberalisation in India in the early 1990s. Mr. Sarma said that the time is ripe to discuss the 'damages' caused by the Emergency to the nation. "We must not forget the Emergency as we cannot repeat the Emergency," he added. The Emergency declared on June 25, 1975, by then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi lasted until March 21, 1977. It was marked by widespread press censorship, arrests without trial and the stifling of dissent in academia, politics and civil society.

BJP's bypoll reality check: Central ambitions need stronger local groundwork
BJP's bypoll reality check: Central ambitions need stronger local groundwork

India Today

time36 minutes ago

  • India Today

BJP's bypoll reality check: Central ambitions need stronger local groundwork

The June 23 verdict of the assembly bypolls has come as a warning bell for the BJP, signalling how the party's state machineries are grappling to keep pace with the central leadership's four corners of the country—Punjab, Gujarat, West Bengal and Kerala—the bypolls offered the BJP a chance to test its mettle, and offered valuable lessons, albeit learnt the hard way. The results show the BJP will need to quickly strengthen its base in Punjab, Bengal and Kerala—the latter two states going to assembly polls next Punjab's Ludhiana West seat, the bypoll defeat was a lesson in timing and focus. Jiwan Gupta, whose candidature was announced rather late, was launched into a campaign already defined by the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) versus Congress agenda. Gupta failed to carve out space for himself. The contest quickly turned into a direct clash between the ruling AAP's Sanjeev Arora and Congress candidate Bharat Bhushan Ashu, shaped as much by ideology as local hamstrung by a delayed announcement and a slowofftheblocks campaign, could neither break into that agenda nor benefit from the massive factionalism consuming the Congress in the state. It's a lost opportunity for the BJP, and the party has its own mismanagement to blame. The victorious AAP, with its sharply-defined messaging and wellentrenched ground campaign, turned BJP's disarray to its BJP-ruled Gujarat offered its own paradox. The party retained its grip on Kadi, with candidate Rajendra Chavda relying on deep ground connections and a long record of delivery. Yet, just a few hundred kilometres away, in Visavadar, the BJP was punished for complacency. Its candidate, Kirit Patel, failed to rally the Patidar against AAP's Gopal Italia, a candidate adept at converting caste pride into a rallying point, the BJP discovered that caste loyalty can no longer be taken for granted, especially when combined with an energetic campaign. Visavadar showed Gujarat's electoral terrain may well be shifting a bit: the BJP can still win with trusted names and its strong ground game, but the decades of statewide dominance could be tested at every step from here Kaliganj seat revealed the limits of identitycentric campaigns. Candidate Ashish Ghosh had framed the race as a test of religious assertion, trying to rally Hindu voters in a state long accustomed to the BJP's polarising tactics. However, Alifa Ahmed and her Trinamool Congress (TMC) presented a counternarrative rooted in inclusion and deep local connections. The margin of defeat, combined with a noticeable erosion of the BJP's vote-share, reflected how communal lines can harden core bases while failing to win over sceptical or fence-sitting Nilambur seat told its own story. The BJP experimented with Mohan George, an attempt to connect with the Christian community. The campaign was cautious, lowkey, relying more on quiet overtures than overt displays of strength. The result was instructive: breakthroughs in such terrain require deep, sustained groundwork, not tactical gestures confined to a single election in all, these results are more than a set of individual defeats and victories. They signal shifts in the ground that the BJP is fighting upon. In state after state, the party discovered that its central narratives—nationalism, identity, promise of bigticket development—can only carry it so far if the local campaign fails to adapt. The Punjab result, in particular, is a lesson in candidate choices and campaign timing, a reminder that discontent with an incumbent government may not always be a recipe for electoral the BJP, the bypoll verdict was a dipstick test of its organisational discipline and ability to read the mood on the ground in four states. The results show the party can no longer win by assuming that its state units can coast on the momentum generated by Delhi. In an era where every seat is contested like a minigeneral election, the BJP must rediscover the precision, urgency and resonance that brought it to national dominance in the first to India Today Magazine- Ends

DOWNLOAD THE APP

Get Started Now: Download the App

Ready to dive into a world of global content with local flavor? Download Daily8 app today from your preferred app store and start exploring.
app-storeplay-store