Dinakar attacks Oppn. over ‘misleading’ GDP growth claims

Chairman of the 20 Points Programme (Viksit Bharat – Swarna Andhra Pradesh) Lanka Dinakar on Saturday criticised the Opposition parties for portraying the country’s 7.8% GDP growth as 2.6%, terming it “political propaganda”.

He said combining the old 2011–12 GDP series with the new 2022–23 series to portray the official 7.8% GDP growth as 2.6% is intended to mislead the public. He criticised the Congress leaders, its supporters, Left sympathisers, and those ideologically opposed to the Narendra Modi government for creating “confusion among the public” in the name of statistics.

“Growth must be calculated based on a single GDP series, a single base year, a consistent methodology, and comparable prices. Taking the 2025-26 figures from the 2011-12 series and the 2026-27 figures from the 2022-23 series, and presenting the difference between them as actual GDP growth, is not scientifically valid,” he said.

Mr. Dinakar said the selection of 2022–23 as the new base year was not a political decision, but a recommendation by the Advisory Committee on National Accounts Statistics after examining various years. He noted that the committee considered factors such as the implementation of GST, the impact of COVID-19, and the exceptional post-COVID recovery before treating 2022–23 as a relatively normal year.

There have been significant changes between India’s economy in 2011–12 and in 2026. He said the country has made substantial progress in areas such as manufacturing, the digital economy, e-commerce, financial services, infrastructure, technology, and formalisation of businesses.

“Congress may criticise the policies of the Centre, which is its democratic right. However, changing statistical standards to suit political opposition is not acceptable,” he maintained. If Congress and the Left believe that the 2.6% growth claim is correct, they should place the complete data, methodology, evidence, and calculations before the public, Mr.

Dinakar challenged.