NEW DELHI: BJP national spokesperson Shehzad Poonawalla on Wednesday hit out at leader of opposition in the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi over his earlier remarks describing India as a “dead economy”, calling him a “leader of propaganda” after India overtook Japan to become the world’s fourth-largest economy.Speaking to ANI, Poonawalla accused Rahul Gandhi of spreading what he termed “malicious propaganda” against the country and said recent economic data had exposed the Congress leader’s claims.“Rahul Gandhi, who is an expert at making anti-India statements, goes to Berlin and spreads malicious propaganda against India, sometimes against the army, sometimes against constitutional institutions, against Sanatan and economic power, has now faced reality today. Rahul Gandhi used to say that India’s economy is dead, India’s economy and production are dead; this is a leader of propaganda, not a leader of opposition,” Poonawalla said.He added that India’s economic position had improved sharply over the past decade. “India’s economy has now reached the fourth position, while in Manmohan Singh’s era, it was at the 11th position. Today, we have overtaken Japan. In the next two and a half to three years, we will become the third-largest economy. He should stop defaming India and spreading malicious propaganda against India,” Poonawalla said.Rahul Gandhi had earlier, in July 2025, echoed then US President Donald Trump’s remark calling India’s economy “dead”. “Yes, he is right, everybody knows this except the Prime Minister and the Finance Minister. 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,” Gandhi had said at the time.According to a press release issued by the Centre, India’s Gross Domestic Product has crossed USD 4.18 trillion, placing it as the fourth-largest economy globally. The government said India is expected to climb further in the global rankings in the coming years.The release also noted that India’s real GDP expanded by 8.2 per cent in the second quarter of the financial year 2025-26, marking a six-quarter high. This followed growth of 7.8 per cent in the first quarter and 7.4 per cent in the fourth quarter of FY 2024-25, pointing to resilient domestic demand despite a challenging global trade environment.Meanwhile, Congress leader Rashid Alvi questioned the credibility of the GDP figures, alleging that the government had altered the calculation method.“It is completely wrong and baseless. Even today, the GDP data that is provided shows that we are the fourth or fifth largest economy in the world. The government has completely changed the way GDP is calculated. GDP is calculated worldwide on a production basis, but they have switched to a consumer basis,” Alvi said.Alvi’s remarks come amid debate over India’s national accounts data after the IMF’s annual review assigned it a Grade ‘C’. Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman had said the grading was due to the continued use of the 2011-12 base year, adding that a revised base year of 2022-23 would be adopted from next year.
