Mocking economists, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday said “hard work is more powerful than Harvard” as the latest GDP data shows demonetisation did not affect growth rate.
“On the one hand are those (critics of note ban) who talk of what people at Harvard say and on the other hand is a poor man’s son who, through his hard work, is trying to improve the economy. Hard work is much more powerful than Harvard,” he said at an election meeting here.
His remark came against the backdrop of Professor of Economics and Philosophy at Harvard University and Nobel laureate Amartya Sen terming demonetisation as a “despotic action that has struck at the root of a trust-based economy.”
The Government had on Tuesday pegged GDP growth at a higher-than-expected 7.1 per cent for 2016-17 despite the cash blues, which was higher than China’s 6.8 per cent for October-December period of 2016, helping India retain the tag of the world’s fastest growing economy.
Modi took a dig at the Congress-SP alliance claiming, “One of them has the expertise in destroying India, while the other has the expertise in destroying Uttar Pradesh.”
He also took a jibe at Congress leader Rahul Gandhi for his “coconut juice” and “potato factory” remarks.
“There is a Congress leader, and I want to pray for his long life...He recently went to Manipur to address an election rally. There he told farmers that he would extract juice from coconuts and send it to london. In fact, a coconut possesses water and it is grown in Kerala. It is like setting up a potato factory,” Modi said referring to Rahul’s earlier remarks that he wants to set up potato factories in UP.
Coming back to Assembly elections in UP, Modi said the electorate has already ensured BJP’s victory in the first five phases and “now they should give surplus votes as gift and bonus in the remaining two rounds also, just like the chillies and coriander leaves, a vegetable seller gives to the buyer as bonus.”
Sounding highly confident of the outcome of the polls in UP, the PM said the debate is now whether the BJP will get two-thirds or three-fourths majority.
“Never have elections gone one way like this... There had been no dearth in enthusiasm of voters in all the five phases... The question is not who will form the Government but will it be a two-thirds or three-fourths majority for BJP,” he said to thunderous applause.