Financial emergency: Cong blames BJP for economic slowdown in country

New Delhi: The Congress on Friday accused the BJP government of forcefully taking Rs 1,76 lakh crore from the RBI to hide a "grave" economic slowdown and claimed that it had pushed the country into a "financial emergency".

The Reserve Bank of India had on Monday approved the transfer of a record Rs 1.76 lakh crore dividend and surplus reserves to the government, boosting the BJP-led regime's prospect of stimulating the slowing economy without widening fiscal deficit.

"RBI's emergency fund is at a six-year low as the BJP government has forcefully taken Rs 1,76,000 crore from the RBI to hide its failures and grave economic slowdown," Congress chief spokesperson Randeep Surjewala tweeted, tagging a media report on the central bank's emergency fund.

"The BJP government has pushed the country into a financial emergency," he said. In another tweet, the Congress spokesperson also pointed out to the rising number of bank frauds. "'Loot & Scoot' in 'New India' as a complicit BJP govt looks the other way and common man is taxed!" he said.

According to the RBI annual report, the number of cases of frauds reported by banks saw a jump of 15 per cent year-on-year basis in 2018-19, with the amount involved increasing by 73.8 per cent to Rs 71,543 crore from Rs 41,167 crore reported in the previous fiscal.