2014 Lok Sabha Elections: Gujarat Citizens Drowned in Debt, claims Congress

Congress leader Digvijaya Singh attacked NDA prime ministerial Narendra Modi criticising his Gujarat model of development as the state has one of the highest per capita debt liabilities.

"Gujarat Govt has highest per capita Debt Liability which means every citizen of Gujarat has more debt to pay than citizen of any other State," the Congress spokesperson tweeted on Friday.

"Modi has the guts to say " Meine Gujarat ka karz utar diya ab Desh ka karz utarna hai" Another indicator of Gujarat Model of Development !" he added.

Before being anointed as Bharatiya Janata Party's prime ministerial nominee, Modi had said at a book release in April that everyone should repay their debt.

"It is the duty of every child to repay the debt he owes to Mother India. Not just me,  Every child and citizen owes a debt to Mother India...it is his duty to repay the debt whenever an opportunity arises."

Last month, political analyst Tehseen Ponnawala had claimed in a blog on IBNlive that debt on Gujarat citizens "has gone up more than 4 times during his (Modi's) tenure (2001-13), from Rs 42,780 cr in 2001 to Rs 1, 76,490 cr in 2013. Gujarats per capita debt is already among the highest in the country."

Congress leader Singh further jeered at Modi's fans on the social networking site saying, "Would Modi Acolytes pl respond ? Yes they would with more "Galis " No issue. Gujarat Model of Development must come in public domain."

As per the graph provided by Singh on his website, Gujarat is not the only state with a per capita debt liability (2011-12) higher than all the states combined.

There are 19 Indian states with a high per capita debt liability as against all the states, out of which four belong to BJP-led governments and more than seven states are governed by Congress or by its' allies.

The ones led by Congress or its allies are Jharkhand, Rajasthan (Congress), Kerala (Congress), Arunachal Pradesh (Congress), Uttar Pradesh (Samajwadi Party), Himachal Pradesh (Congress), Jammu & Kashmir (National Conference). The BJP-led states are Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, Goa and Punjab.

In fact, the state with a highest per capita debt liability is Congress-led Manipur, under the governance of Chief Minister Okram Ibobi Singh.