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

NEW DELHI — The BJP and Congress on Tuesday clashed over the interpretation of India's latest GDP growth rate of 7.8 percent in the April-June 2026 quarter. The BJP lauded the performance as a testament to resilient economic management, while the Congress questioned whether the growth had translated into tangible benefits for ordinary Indians such as jobs, higher incomes and wider prosperity.

BJP spokesperson Ravi Shankar Prasad hailed the growth figures as "particularly significant," stressing that India had expanded rapidly despite geopolitical and economic uncertainties including the Gulf crisis, oil supply disruptions and supply-chain pressures. Prasad compared India's performance favorably with other major economies, noting that Canada, Germany, the UK, Malaysia, South Korea and the US had all grown at a slower pace during the same period.

Congress leader Pawan Khera, however, challenged the BJP's assessment, asserting that headline growth figures alone do not capture the economic realities faced by the majority of Indians. Khera questioned how the growth was benefiting young people, farmers, and the manufacturing sector, pointing to ongoing unemployment, leaky exam papers, and a crumbling education system as evidence that the prosperity was not trickling down to the public.