New Delhi, May 23: BJP came down heavily on the Congress-led UPA government today for its inability to arrest the continuing slide of the Rupee, blaming the ruling coalition's mismanagement and corruption for the decline of the national currency.
“The steep decline of the Rupee in comparison to the Dollar is a matter of very serious concern...It is not only linked to volatility of Dollar or the international situation, it has much to do with India's rampant mismanagement of economy and rampant corruption,” BJP chief spokesperson Ravi Shankar Prasad said.
Prasad also alleged that the government was completely oblivious of this as it is happening for the last about a month.
The BJP spokesman said as a result of the declining rupee, imports will become costlier and so will business, even as crude oil imports will become dearer.
“This very state will lead to further inflation and result in harassment to the common man,” Prasad lamented.
Asking the government to take urgent steps to arrest the trend, he wondered, however, why the currencies of other smaller countries were not declining as the Rupee was.
“Such decline is not witnessed in Thailand, Bangladesh, Vietnam and China...then why so in India?” he questioned.
Continuing its free-fall for the sixth day in a row, the rupee today crashed below the psychological 56-mark against the US dollar, to yet another all-time low on heavy demand for the American currency from importers, especially oil refiners, amid foreign fund outflows and weak equities.
After a lower start at 55.82, the rupee continued its downward journey by losing 74 paise at 56.13 at 1350 hrs.
