Thiruvananthapuram, Sep 3 (IANS): Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Thursday slammed the governance of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, saying that he has "clearly mishandled" the economy as what the country built over the last 70 years is being given away to a "select few friends" of his.

"We are not against privatisation but our privatisation plan had a logic. We didn't privatise strategic industries, for example, railways which is the backbone of India. The Congress party must oppose the sale of our crown jewels at every level," he said, after virtually inaugurating the brand new party office at Kannur.

Gandhi claimed hat the Modi government has come up with a new concept of GDP, wherein a rise in GDP means a rise in prices of gas, diesel, and petrol.

"While international prices for crude and gas have gone down since 2014, there has been huge increase in prices in GDP in last seven years. Rs 23 lakh crore has been earned by increasing prices of GDP in the last seven years. Where has this money gone?" he asked.

"While farmers, labourers, small traders, informal sector, MSMEs, contract workers, salaried class and honest industrialists are being demonetised, four-five friends of Prime Minister Narendra Modi ji are being monetised," he alleged.

"We have to fight these forces. You also have to fight another divisive ideology in the state," added Gandhi, who currently represents the Wayanad Lok Sabha constituency, which borders Kannur district.