Maharajganj: Mocking economists, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday said “hard work is more powerful than Harvard” as the latest GDP data shows demonetisation did not affect growth rate; rather the figures have improved.
“On the one hand are those (critics of note ban) who talk of what people at Harvard say and on the other hand is a poor man’s son who through his hard work is trying to improve the economy,” he said at an election meeting here.
Mr Modi also mocked economists who have been critical of demonetisations.
“Hard work,” he said, “is more powerful than Harvard”, in a sweeping jibe at Dr Manmohan Singh, P. Chidambaram and Amartya Sen, among others. His comments came a day after the latest GDP data showed demonetisation did not affect India’s growth rate much.
Mr Sen had called demonetisation a “despotic action that has struck at the root of economy based on trust”, and Dr Singh had called the implementation of demonetisations “monumental mismanagement”.
The government had on Tuesday pegged the GDP growth at a higher-than-expected 7.1 per cent for 2016-17 despite the cash blues, which was higher than China’s 6.8 per cent for October-December period of 2016, making India retain the tag of being the world’s fastest growing economy.
Mr Modi claimed that the BJP has already won the Assembly elections in Uttar Pradesh even with two more phases of polling to go. He also said that UP resembled sub-Saharan Africa — a region plagued by poverty and extreme inequality.
