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In the country's politics, economic issues and growth rate figures have often been the main center of war of words between the ruling party and the opposition. Whenever new economic figures come out, the parties and the opposition present the picture to the public from their respective perspectives. At present, the politics of the country is completely heated regarding the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) figures of the first quarter. The Congress Party has raised serious question marks on the claims of 7.8 percent GDP growth rate recorded in the first quarter of the current financial year. The main opposition party has openly accused the Narendra Modi government at the Center of manipulating economic data, juggling figures and misleading the public by hiding the real economic condition of the country. Amidst this political turmoil, basic issues like inflation, unemployment and increasing inequality have once again come to the center of national discussion. Congress' serious allegation of manipulation of GDP figures Criticizing the government's policies on the economic front, senior leaders of the Congress Party have raised questions on the credibility of the figures. Congress General Secretary Jairam Ramesh made a scathing attack and said that by repeatedly changing the methodology and methods of calculation, the Modi government is setting the GDP figures as per its convenience, while the poor economic reality on the ground of the country is telling something else. Congress argues that the common man's kitchen is becoming increasingly expensive and for the middle class, building their dream house is now proving to be a distant dream. Explaining the mathematics of figures, Jairam Ramesh said that the difference between nominal and real GDP, which reflects inflation, is being reported as only 2.3 percent in the government figures, whereas during the same quarter, the inflation rate based on Wholesale Price Index (WPI) has been recorded at more than 9 percent. The party says that this is a glaring and huge discrepancy which exposes the government's claims. If the government presents transparent figures to the country with complete honesty, the actual growth rate figure will be much lower than this. Mallikarjun Kharge hits back at PM Modi, mentions three 'U's' After Prime Minister Narendra Modi expressed happiness over the GDP growth of the first quarter, Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge made a strong counterattack on the social media platform 'X'. Kharge sarcastically said that if the Prime Minister is saying that the entire country is celebrating GDP growth, then perhaps this facility is available only to selected people or the government and not to the common countryman. Referring to the general public, the Congress President alleged that the citizens of the country are currently under the trident of three 'U' i.e. extraordinary unemployment, unbearable inflation and uncontrolled inequality and the entire responsibility for all this lies with the present government. According to Kharge, the unemployment crisis in the country has reached its highest level in the last 50 years, where almost 40 percent of the youth are wandering without jobs despite being graduates. Citing statistics, he said that in July 2026, one out of every six youth in the age group of 15 to 29 years did not have employment, which proves that the promise of providing two crore jobs every year has been completely broken. Skyrocketing prices of kitchen and common consumer goods. Highlighting the difficulties in the daily life of common citizens, Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge said that today it has become difficult for the poor and middle class to even arrange two meals a day. The prices of sugar, onion, tomato, pulses, edible oil, rice, milk and every other essential item used in the kitchen are skyrocketing in the market. Apart from this, due to the huge increase in the prices of petrol, diesel, cooking gas (LPG) and CNG, the common middle class family is struggling to somehow survive their daily life. Referring to the condition of the poor, he said that the poorest section of the country has now given up any kind of hope from the system. Kharge hit out hard, alleging that the level of economic inequality in the country has now reached a state worse than during the colonial British rule. The entire economic policy of the government revolves around promoting only select capitalists i.e. crony capitalism, under which corporate loans worth more than Rs 16 lakh crore have been waived off since 2014. Taking a jibe at the claims of 'Fake in India' and Make in India, the Congress party also took a strong dig at the major schemes and advertisements of the government. Jairam Ramesh sarcastically said that the government's much-hyped scheme 'Make in India' may have achieved very little on the ground, but another signature scheme of the Modi government 'Fake in India' is continuing without any interruption. Party leaders say that the government presents a beautiful picture of India's economic progress abroad, but the ground reality is that the youth of the country are stumbling from door to door for employment. Responding to the Prime Minister's advice to the public not to buy gold and not to travel abroad, the Congress said that such advice itself is a strong proof of how weak and worrying the ground reality of the country's economy has become. Congress has demanded that the government should leave aside the politics of statistics and publicity and provide real employment, affordable goods and transparent economic policies to the people of the country.