Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman speaks at the “Prashiksha Varga” for Bharatiya Janata Party workers organised by the Udupi District BJP unit, at Uchhila in Udupi district on Saturday.
| Photo Credit: UMESH S. SHETTIGAR
Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Saturday, dismissed opposition’s allegations of the country’s economy being in danger and asserted it has been strong citing the 2025-26 economy growth at 7.7%.Speaking after inaugurating Udupi district Bharatiya Janata Party’s “Prashiksha Varg,” at Uchhila, Ms. Sitharaman said the country’s economy grew by 7.8% in the last quarter of 2025-26, while the overall growth in 2025-26 had been 7.7%. She was stressing on Quarter 4 performance because that was when the West Asia crisis started severely crippling fuel supply to India and other countries.Fear mongeringSlamming the Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi, Ms. Sitharaman said ever since the West Asia crisis started, he indulged in fear mongering by saying the Indian economy was in danger. The Indian National Congress was good at fear mongering and its leader began claiming the economy was collapsing.However, the recently released GDP data had a different story altogether, where the economy was shown to have grown by 7.7% with 7.8% growth in the last quarter, she asserted.Even the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) in its report has said the Indian Industry has increased its investment by 60% in 2025-26. If there was no growth prospects and if there was no demand in the market, would the industries have enhanced their investment, she mused.Fight misinformationMs. Sitharaman urged the party cadres to fight the misinformation campaign being carried out by the opposition with facts and figures. They should convey the government’s achievements and official data to the people, she said. The Minister further said the cadres should inform the people about the country’s economic growth, development projects and various pro-people programmes of the Central government. There was a need to respond to false information spread on social media with facts.Ms. Sitharaman also urged the cadres not to get bogged down by the ruling government in Karnataka, which was doing ‘everything’ to bring down their morale. “The region between north Kerala to Maharashtra on the West coast, has faced several challenges; yet people have overcome them,” she said.Udupi district BJP President Kuthyaru Naveen Shettty, Udupi-Chikkamagaluru MP Kota Srinivas Poojary, MLAs, MLCs and others were present. Published - June 13, 2026 07:23 pm IST
