The fresh social media spat erupted on Wednesday after the Kerala Congress mocked the Centre’s GDP claims with a beer mug graphic. Union parliamentary affairs minister Kiren Rijiju and the Congress party are at loggerheads once again, this time over India’s GDP.
The ‘jhoot ki goonj’ jibe directed at the Congress comes amid Leader of the Opposition in Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi’s ‘Chatron ki Goonj’ programme, a youth outreach campaign in the backdrop of the recent examination irregularities, including the NEET UG-2026. Earlier, the Congress also attacked the government over the GDP numbers, citing former finance secretary Subhash Chandra Garg’s reported remarks on GDP numbers to attack the Modi government. Rijiju launched a sharp attack at the Congress over this and said, “Is Congress Party in a state of deep intoxication due to drinking too much beer or Congressmen are so swayed by their blind loathing of India’s growth that they have lost touch with the ground reality?
The Kerala Congress posted a photo of a beer mug with the fizz labelled as ‘official GDP’ and the drink beneath it marked as ‘Indian economy’.
The government should first acknowledge the real economic situation, then undertake reforms – jobs should be created for the youth, MSMEs and private investment should be boosted, demand and incomes should rise, economic inequality should decrease, and instead of promoting crony capitalists, fair competition should be ensured, Ramesh said. “The Modi government must understand: PR can polish the picture of GDP, but not the economy itself,” the Congress general secretary said. On Tuesday, Prime Minister Narendra Modi hailed India’s GDP growth in the first quarter of FY27, calling it a reflection of the “collective strength” of the people and tok a “jhoot ki goonj” swipe at Congress and its leader Rahul Gandhi, accusing them of “spreading despair” in the country.
