Ballia (Uttar Pradesh), Feb 10 (IANS): In a seemingly bizarre statement, BJP MP Virendra Singh Mast said that people are wearing coats and jackets instead of traditional 'kurta' and 'dhoti' which indicates that there is no recession in the country.

At a public function here on Sunday, the MP said, "There have been discussions in Delhi and the world, about recession. If there was any recession, we would have come here wearing 'kurta' and 'dhoti', not coats and jackets. If there was a recession we would not have bought clothes, pants, and pajamas."

He further said that India is the country of villages and not just metropolitan cities.

"I want to inform you that this is a country of 6.5 lakh villages and not just cities like Delhi, Mumbai, and Hyderabad. Mahatma Gandhi, Dr Hedgewar, Syama Prasad Mookerjee and Jayaprakash Narayan had expressed confidence in the villagers and helped the country gain independence," he stated.

The Congress and other opposition parties have been accusing the BJP government of 'complete mismanagement' of the economy.

The opposition has claimed that there has been an 'alarming deterioration' in the livelihood status of the vast majority of people 'due to the complete mismanagement of the economy by the Modi government.'

Government data released on January 13 showed that retail inflation had risen to 7.35 per cent in December 2019 as compared to 5.54 percent in the previous month.