New Delhi: The Congress has slammed Prime Minister NarendraModi by indirectly saying he is  is like the cinematic 'Bad Santa' for the hardships they believe he caused with the note ban and the introduction of GST.

Congress spokesman Manish Tewari tweeted a day after Christmas to say that in the rest of the world "an old man with a white beard" - he meant Santa Claus - stuffed stockings with gifts and money. But in India, a similar looking "old man with a white beard" did quite the opposite, that is, relieved people of their money and left them only with their socks. And instead of coming down the chimney, he entered homes through the TV.

The Congress and most of the rest of the Opposition believe the two economic measures are quite the opposite of a success. They point to growth that slowed in the quarters immediately following Nov 2016's note ban. They also said the introduction of GST was hasty and ill-implemented has has taken a toll on small businesses, a toll that will last a lot longer than a few fiscal quarters.

In September, the BJP's own YashwantSinha -a former finance minister himself - called the note ban "a disaster" and GST introduction "poorly conceived". He added that the two moves were a cruel joke on the fragile Indian economy, and had only caused immense misery to India's poor.