‘Out of Context’: Prasad Withdraws Movie-Logic Remark on Economy

“There’s a huge business by movies,” said Ravi Shankar Prasad.

Union Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad interacts with media ahead of Assembly elections the party headquarters in Mumbai on 12 October.

(Photo: PTI)

A day after he used movie earnings to counter arguments on economic slowdown, Union Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad withdrew his comment on Sunday, 13 October, stating that although his remark was factually correct, it was taken “out of context”.

Earlier on Saturday, Prasad had said that revenues earned by recently released movies like Joker, War and Sye Raa were indicative of how well the Indian economy is doing.

Addressing a press conference in Mumbai’s BJP headquarters, Prasad said, “As I was the Information and Broadcast Minister during Atal Bihari Vajpayee's term, I had a certain liking towards movies. There's a huge business by movies.”

Issuing a statement the next day, he alleged that his comment was completely twisted out of context.

“Entire video of my media interaction is available on my social media. Yet I regret to note that one part of my statement has been completely twisted out of context.”

Ravi Shankar Prasad

Prasad’s comments come at a time when multiple reports are suggesting India is in the midst of an economic slump.

“On 2 October, three movies released, and Komal Nahta, who is a renowned film trade analyst, said that the national holiday saw an earning of Rs 120 crores by War, Joker and Sye Raa. It is because the country’s economy is sound that we are getting a revenue of Rs 120 crores in a day,” he had said.

Further, he had added, “I have given you ten parameters where economy is performing well, but not a single one is reflected in the (NSSO) report. Hence, I call it a wrong report.”

He was referring to the NSSO's periodic labour force survey (PLFS) which had stated that employment was at a 45-year low.

Earlier, Niti Aayog Vice Chairman Rajiv Kumar had countered the report saying, “It is not finalised. It is a draft report.”

Prasad’s statements come a day after the Index of Industrial Production (IIP), commonly known as factory output, registered a negative growth of 1.1 percent for August. The result was a stark contrast with the 4.3 percent growth in the month of July.

Meanwhile, Moody's Investors Service on Thursday, 10 October, slashed its 2019-2020 growth forecast for India to 5.8 percent from 6.2 percent earlier. They stated that the economy was experiencing a pronounced slowdown which is partially related to long-lasting factors.

‘Pra-Sad Index’, Mocks Congress

Senior Congress leader Jairam Ramesh on Saturday took a dig at Prasad for his statement and said even China measures its economy on parameters like power, credit and freight.

“Li Keqiang, China’s PM inspired the Keqiang index to measure health of economy with the indicators: rail freight, power consumption & bank credit. For our very own IT Minister @rsprasad daily film trade turnover is better. Pra-sad index indeed,” Ramesh tweeted.

Congress General Secretary, Priyanka Gandhi too, took to Twitter to admonish Prasad for his comments.

“It is saddening that when millions are losing jobs in the country and their money is being locked-in by banks, the government doesn’t care about the public’s troubles. It only cares about the profits that movies are making. Minister Sir, come out of the movie universe. Don’t turn your face away from the reality”, said Priyanka in her tweet.

Meanwhile, CPI(M) general secretary Sitaram Yechury also reacted to Prasad's remarks, saying the BJP government lets no opportunity slip to mock at the misery of the people.

"This BJP govt lets no opportunity slip to mock at the misery of the people. First they create an economic crisis by mismanaging things, then instead of taking remedial measures, continue to be in denial. Lakhs of workers have lost jobs in just the auto and textile sectors. Investment and Savings levels are at an abysmal low. Unemployment is at its highest in five decades and even biscuit sales are down. No amount of denials, tamashas and fudging of data can hide this truth," Yechury tweeted.

(With inputs from ANI and PTI)