NEW DELHI,16 Jan 2026 : BJP on Friday took a dig at Congress leader Rahul Gandhi, calling him the “Leader of Pessimism”, hours after the International Monetary Fund (IMF) praised India, citing its “stronger than expected” third-quarter growth.
The IMF on Thursday said India is the “key growth engine” for the world, noting that the country’s third-quarter growth came out stronger than expected.
BJP national spokesperson CR Kesavan, in a post on X, questioned whether Gandhi will apologise to the nation for “maliciously lying and badmouthing the Indian economy.”
“Will LOP, Leader of Pessimism, Rahul Gandhi, who maliciously lied and badmouthed our Indian Economy, now publicly apologise to our nation and people? The IMF lauding the Indian economy is a resounding rebuke and snub to Rahul Gandhi’s fake narrative and cheap political agenda, which attempted to undermine our nation’s remarkable progress and growth,” Kesavan said.
According to the BJP leader, Gandhi continues to be “repeatedly rejected” by the people of India as he has “no compunction or remorse in abusing and slandering the country to further his narrow, failed political agenda.”
Rahul Gandhi, who has been a constant critic of the BJP-led government, had called the Indian economy “dead” in August last year – agreeing to the remark initially made by US President Donald Trump as he had slapped tariffs on India over its Russian oil purchase. “Everybody knows that the Indian economy is a dead economy. I am glad that President Trump has stated a fact. The entire world knows that the Indian economy is a dead economy. Everybody knows this except the Prime Minister and the Finance Minister,” he had said. This had sparked a huge backlash with many ruling party leaders slamming the Congress leader.
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