Union Parliamentary Affairs Minister is yet again at loggerheads with the Congress party, but this time, the slugfest is over the recent GDP growth data of the government.
The clash took place on the social media platform X on Wednesday after the Kerala Congress handle mocked the GDP data with a picture of a mug filled with beer and thick foam.
The beer part of the mug was labelled 'Indian Economy' while the fizz atop was named 'Official GDP.'
The Kerala Congress posted the image with the caption, Nobody believes the fake story anymore. The world can see through the fakery."
Rijiju hit back at Congress, quipping if the party was in a state of deep intoxication or swayed by blind loathing.
"Is the Congress Party in a state of deep intoxication due to drinking too much beer or are Congressmen so swayed by their blind loathing of India's growth that they have lost touch with the ground reality?" Rijiju jabbed.
Is Congress Party in a state of deep intoxication due to drinking too much beer or Congressmen are so swayed by their blind loathing of India's growth that they have lost touch with the ground reality? https://t.co/kSbDhB3Qc3
— Kiren Rijiju (@KirenRijiju) September 2, 2026
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What's GDP row?
The Central government on Monday released the GDP growth data. India grew at faster-than-expected 7.8 per cent in the first quarter (April-June) of the financial year 2027, defying the global slowdown over the West Asia war.
The figure was less than the barnstorming 8.6 per cent in the previous quarter but still remained above expectations.
On Tuesday, PM Modi lauded the growth, congratulated the people of India for their hard work and took a 'jhooth ki goonj' jibe apparently at Congress and Rahul Gandhi.
Notably, Gandhi is at the helm of a campaign called 'Chhatron ki Goonj,' a student outreach program in the wake of the NEET paper leak.
Congress has for long been sceptical of the government data on the economy. After the latest GDP data, Congress general secretary in charge of communication and Rajya Sabha MP Jairam Ramesh cited former finance secretary Subhash Chandra Garg's reported remarks that the first quarter number has gone up by 10.3 per cent because of last year's GDP revision by as much as Rs 6 trillion.
While speaking to a news channel, Garg had said, "If you had not revised last year's GDP, the growth in current prices would have been 2.6 per cent."
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Ramesh targeted the Modi government, terming the GDP data 'fabricated'. "Former Finance Secretary Subhash Garg has now burst the bubble on this claim. His assessment is that the real GDP growth is around 2.6%, not 7.8%," Ramesh said.
"We want the economy to truly be strong, but the path to a strong economy doesn't come from embellishing numbers fabricated on a foundation of lies - it comes from accepting the truth," he added.