Key Indian opposition leader Rahul Gandhi has slammed the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-led federal government over new data showing that Bangladesh's per capital gross domestic product (GDP) is set to overtake India this year.
"Solid achievement of BJP's hate-filled cultural nationalism. Bangladesh set to overtake India", he said in a morning tweet on Wednesday.
The revealing statistics are part of the International Monetary Fund (IMF)'s World Economic Outlook (WEO), published on its website on Tuesday.
According to the IMF, Bangladesh's per capita GDP (in $) will witness an increase of four percent in 2020. India, on the other hand, will see its GDP per capita contract by 10.5 percent, the IMF estimated. Overall, Bangladesh's per capita income is projected to grow to $1,888 in 2020, compared to India's $1,877.
According to analysis of the IMF data, India will be left as the third-poorest country in South Asia, with only Pakistan and Nepal posting worse GDP per capita numbers. Bangladesh, Bhutan, Sri Lanka, and the Maldives will be better off than India this year, as per the report.
The IMF didn't release the data for Pakistan for the year.
However, the IMF's outlook has predicted a "sharp economic recovery" for India next year, which will see the South Asian powerhouse re-gaining its GDP per capita lead over Bangladesh.
Gandhi's political attack on Indian Prime Minister Modi also found resonance among the public, with many of his supporters reminding the PM that India's per capita income five years ago was 40 percent more than Bangladesh's.