India's GDP growth: BJP hails 'economic resilience'; Congress asks where are the jobs?

NewsIndia NewsIndia's GDP growth: BJP hails 'economic resilience'; Congress asks where are the jobs?

India's GDP growth: BJP hails 'economic resilience'; Congress asks where are the jobs?

Edited by: Vijaya Srivastava / TIMESOFINDIA.COM / Sep 01, 2026, 14:55 IST

Prasad compared India’s performance with growth recorded by several other major economies while Khera argued that a single quarter of strong GDP growth should not be treated as evidence of broad-based economic prosperity.

NEW DELHI: The BJP and Congress on Tuesday traded sharply contrasting assessments of India’s economy after official data showed GDP growth of 7.8 per cent in the April-June 2026 quarter. While the BJP hailed the performance as evidence of resilient economic management, the Opposition questioned whether the growth has translated into jobs, higher incomes and wider prosperity.BJP leader Ravi Shankar Prasad held a press conference where he described the latest growth figures as “particularly significant”. He argued that India had expanded rapidly despite heightened geopolitical and economic uncertainty during the quarter, including the Gulf crisis, disruptions to oil supplies and supply-chain pressures.“Today is a very encouraging day. The latest report shows that India’s GDP growth stood at 7.8 per cent in the April-June 2026 quarter. The figure of 7.8 per cent is particularly significant because, during this period, the Gulf crisis had intensified. There were concerns over oil supplies, disruptions in supply chains, and uncertainty across the global economy. Despite all these challenges, India’s economy grew by 7.8 per cent,” Prasad said at a press conference in Delhi.

Prasad also compared India’s performance with growth recorded by several other major economies, saying Canada grew by around 1.5 per cent, Germany by 1 per cent, the UK by 2.1 per cent, Malaysia by about 6 per cent, South Korea by around 3.7 per cent and the US by roughly 2 per cent during the same period. Watch

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Khera had earlier taken his criticism to X, arguing that a single quarter of strong GDP growth should not be treated as evidence of broad-based economic prosperity.“One quarter of 7.8% growth is not an economic spring. If India has truly "bloomed," why do rampant unemployment, leaked exam papers, and a crumbling education system define the ground reality? Why is the republic's prosperity not translating into the prosperity of its public? GDP measures national output - not jobs, not wages, not opportunity. If it measured any of those, the future of India's youth would not look so bleak. Modi can manage his headlines. For India's youth, the question remains the same as ever: Where are the jobs?”

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The competing responses underline the political divide over how India's economic performance should be assessed. While the BJP has used the 7.8 per cent quarterly expansion to highlight India's relative resilience amid global disruptions, the Congress has focused on whether headline GDP growth is being reflected in employment, household incomes and opportunities for India's young population.

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Vijaya Srivastava is a journalist and feature writer whose expertise lies in covering human-centred developments. Her stories explore how policy, technology, economic shifts and social change influence people's everyday lives. Her work also focuses on bringing depth, context and a human perspective to complex issues.

Her reports primarily cover society, healthcare, safety, public policy and emerging trends, alongside other political developments.

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