Senior Congress leader and former party President Rahul Gandhi has, on Friday, flayed the Modi led Central government on its handling of the COVID-19 outbreak and claimed that even countries like Pakistan and Afghanistan had handled the outbreak better than India. The Congress leader has made the comparison with the neighbors based on the latest economic projection released by the International Monetary Fund (IMF). 

In its latest 'World Economic Outlook' report, the IMF has projected that India would face a massive and unprecedented hit in its economy. As per the projection, the Indian economy is set to contract by a massive 10.3 percent this year. The Congress leader has shared the IMF chart that showed the growth projections of India and its neighbors Bangladesh, Nepal, China, Bhutan, China, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Afghanistan, and Myanmar for 2020-21. 

Rahul Gandhi had posted the IMF chart on his Twitter which revealed that the Indian economy is projected to contract by a massive 10.3 percent this year, which is the highest contraction and decline while compared to all the neighbors including Bangladesh and Pakistan. By posting the chart, Rahul Gandhi said, "Another solid achievement by the BJP government. Even Pakistan and Afghanistan handled Covid better than India".

Another solid achievement by the BJP government.

Even Pakistan and Afghanistan handled Covid better than India. pic.twitter.com/C2kILrvWUG

— Rahul Gandhi (@RahulGandhi) October 16, 2020

In what has become a shocking development, the IMF projection had captured vast attention from the country after showcasing the aberrant and plummeting state of the economy amid the negating claims surfaced by the Center. The sudden outbreak of COVID-19 and lukewarm approach by the Center had applied brakes on the emerging economy and pulled back to take on an unprecedented hit. 

Neighboring countries like Bangladesh, Nepal, Myanmar, China, Bhutan, and Pakistan have been predicted to record a GDP growth while India would face a massive decline despite the Center rolled out the mega stimulus of Rs 20 lakh crore to revive the economy.  

On Wednesday, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi said that the per capita GDP of Bangladesh is increasing than India as per the IMF projections and called it as a solid achievement of six years of BJP's hate-filled cultural nationalism. 

On the other hand, the IMF's World Economic Outlook report has said that India is likely to bounce back with an impressive 8.8 percent growth rate in 2021 and it would regain the position of the fastest-growing emerging economy than China, which has a projected growth rate of 8.2 percent in 2021.