Indian economy strong, people's income & employment on rise: BJP

New Delhi: The BJP claimed on Thursday that the Indian economy is not only on track but is galloping ahead like a "bullet train" and cited a boost in the domestic private demand to assert that people's income and employment are on the rise.

BJP spokesperson Syed Zafar Islam took a swipe at opposition leaders for spreading "negativity" about the Indian economy with their regular tweets and added they have been silent for some time as economic indicators are showing its strength.

He also refuted claims that the unemployment rate has risen in India and said it is in fact falling.

"Look carefully, employment rate is rising. Domestic demand has risen at a fast pace. Private demand expenditure has gone up by 26 per cent. It shows the common man is in a good state. That is why expenditure has risen. Domestic demand shows people's income and employment are rising," Islam claimed.

Opposition leaders, including Rahul Gandhi, have often alleged that unemployment has been rising. BJP MP Varun Gandhi on Thursday also joined the criticism and cited the Centre for Monitoring Indian Economy (CMIE) data to claim that employment rate among the youth has hit a five-year low.

India's economy grew by 13.5 per cent in the first quarter of the current fiscal, mainly due to the base effect, official data showed on Wednesday.

The BJP leader said India was seen as a fragile economy around 2012-13 but while the global economy continues to struggle now due to the Ukraine war and global slowdown, the country is now being seen to be doing strongly under a strong leader in Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

"Modi took big and good decisions which have led the economy to be in a strong position," he said, noting the global economy has also been hit by supply chain disruption. The Chinese economy is also not doing well, he said.

The growth in India's economy will contribute a massive 25 per cent to the global GDP growth in 2022-23, he said. While inflation continues to go upwards globally, it is now coming down in India, he said.

To a question about price rise, he said global factors added to inflation but the government took measures to control it. Its direction is clear and it is going down, he said.

Opposition leaders post "fake" tweets to mislead people and they should study before making comments, he said.