The Q4 GDP numbers for Fiscal 2017-18 are out (Jan-Mar, 2018) and India’s economy is growing at a sizzling 7.7%.
For India’s partisan media and chattering classes, not to mention the pretend economists, this sterling achievement is no less than ONE TIGHT SLAP.
Yes, I said it.
There was a time, not so long ago, when India overhauled its entire taxation system with the Goods and Services Tax (GST). Understandably, as India’s $2 trillion Economy paused for the giant transition, there was a slowdown in one quarter. That would be the Q1 of Fiscal 2017-18, i.e., the period of April–June, 2017, when every business in the country was waiting and recalculating for the GST rollout on July 1.
Every sensible person understands this concept. We have all seen old, decrepit buildings being broken down in our cities and new gleaming ones being built in its place. And everyone understands that in the interim, you can’t live in the house while it’s under construction.
The same with the Indian economy. While the entire system for doing business in this country is being overhauled, there is going to be an interim shutdown.
But for our cheap, partisan media and its pretend economists, this interim was a golden opportunity to take potshots at the Modi government. While the opportunity was still there.
Here is M K Venu, one of the founding editors of The Wire, who pounced upon the moment to declare that India is in a state of “economic chaos.”
Anti-Hindu outlets like Al Jazeera were itching for a chance to humiliate the nation of kafirs. And our intellectuals like Paranjoy Guha Thakurta did not disappoint.
The likes of Kaushik Basu could not be far behind. Unlike M K Venu or Paranjoy, Kaushik Basu had a reputation as a world-renowned economist that he should have kept in mind. He could have tapped into his knowledge and appealed for some common sense. He could have appealed for people to wait and not go overboard with nonsensical criticism while GST is being implemented.
But the desire to humiliate Modi proved too much for him. Kaushik Basu jumped on the bandwagon.
The economic slump, economic chaos … the hyperbole from Modi baiters wouldn’t stop. Nitin Sethi of Scroll.in went as far as to talk about “epic economic problems.”
Who is this great economist that Nitin Sethi quotes? It is one Himanshu, an associate professor of economics at JNU. Here is how he describes India’s economic situation in Sept 2017.
Ha! The “data is clear” that India is in a state of economic collapse!
Wonder where is Prof. Himanshu of JNU these days? My guess is that he is still teaching his students, as usual, filling their minds with absolute rubbish. The fact that he spewed total garbage in Sept 2017 will not impact his reputation nor his career one bit. Because, chances, are, he will hide behind the ‘burqa of secularism’.
Then there was the flat out lying. Exhilarated by the echo chamber talk of economic slump/chaos/collapse, some in the media forgot to check even the most basic facts. A Nov 22 article by an Assistant Editor of the website of AajTak even went so far as to suggest that Modi government is withholding the disclosure of Q2 GDP figures in view of Gujarat elections. The Assistant Editor went on to claim that Q2 GDP numbers are generally released on Nov 1.
This is flat out lying: Q2 GDP numbers are always released on Nov 30. I am pretty sure the Assistant Editor in question still has a job. Because my guess is that he too is wearing the infamous burqa of secularism.
But ‘secularism’ cannot change facts. All these mighty experts, pretend economists and otherwise, are now hiding under a desk somewhere, hoping that we forget about the absolute garbage that they predicted six months ago. The Q4 GDP of 7.7% has come as a stinging slap on their faces and they know it.
More resounding is the clear upward trajectory as the Indian economy soars with its new GST wings.
There is now not even a shred of doubt that the so-called “economic slowdown/chaos/collapse” of Apr–June 2017 period was a tiny blip as businesses waited for the GST rollout. Every single prejudiced calculation, every jaundiced prediction and every outright lie of India’s liberals has been ruthlessly nailed by FACTS.
Perhaps these people did not realize that their dishonest propaganda would be exposed so soon. They thought this was the India of Jawaharlal Nehru, where it takes decades to move the needle. These people thought it would be years before their foolishness was exposed.
But this is Modi’s India. In Modi’s India, the whole taxation system is overhauled, but there is only a three-month pause before the economy is booming again.
Modi’s India has kept its status as World’s fastest growing economy. For how many years under Manmohan Singh did India enjoy this distinction? Dear economists of Sept 2017, tell us!!
In their embarrassment, the media is trying to bury the reporting of the India story. The partisan media and economists are not even opening their mouths on India’s Q4 GDP numbers.
This leaves it up to the common people, like us, to open our mouths. Let’s make it heard everywhere that India is the fastest growing economy on the planet. And that JNU professors don’t count. Reality does.