Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi Vadra on Tuesday attacked the Narendra Modi government over the state of the economy, and said that it was now time for the Bharatiya Janata Party to admit that there was a “historic slowdown” and take steps to resolve it.

“Telling a lie a hundred times does not turn it into truth,” Vadra wrote on Twitter. “The BJP government should accept that there is a historic slowdown in the economy and they should move towards taking measures to resolve it.”

She added: “The slowdown is before everyone. Till when will the government keep running with headline management.”

On August 26, Vadra, who is the party general secretary for eastern Uttar Pradesh, had urged the government to “take meaningful steps” and find “solution for people losing employment”. She had said the government should initiate steps to boost the confidence of companies and investors instead of managing the crisis by attempting to influence the media.

A number of Opposition leaders and parties have criticised the government for the fall in growth. On Sunday, former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh blamed “all-round mismanagement” by the Narendra Modi government for the slowdown, and asked it to “put aside vendetta politics” and consult with “all sane voices and thinking minds” to save the economy.

His comments came a couple of days after after Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman unveiled a mega plan to merge 10 public sector banks into four entities with robust balance sheets that can be used to boost credit and push growth. Moments after the finance minister’s announcement, data released by the government showed that India’s economic growth rate had slipped to 5% in the April-June quarter, the lowest in over six years.

In the last few months, core sectors such as automobiles and manufacturing have witnessed a progressive slowdown in growth due to weakened consumer demand and dearth of investments. Chief Economic Adviser KV Subramanian on Friday attributed the slowdown to domestic and global factors. He added that the government was taking steps to improve the situation.

Now, follow and debate the day’s most significant stories on Scroll Exchange.