As economists debated the credibility and implications of the growth figure, a podcast went viral on social media in which 21-year-old Hindutva influencer Swatantra Bharadwaj from Patna claimed that he escaped punishment after breaking the skull of a man at Jantar Mantar. Bharadwaj attributed this to a phone call from Delhi BJP Minister Kapil Mishra and claimed close links with other NDA leaders, including Chirag Paswan and Narendra Modi.
The two claims have drawn attention for different reasons. The GDP figure has been questioned over the methodology and revisions behind it, while Bharadwaj's claims and their reported aftermath have raised concerns about alleged links between political networks, the police and violent groups during the Modi-Shah era.
In an interview before his arrest, Bharadwaj thanked Modi for ordering authorities to “identify and isolate Dimagi Naxals” and warned that videos would emerge showing people labelled as Dimagi Naxals being subjected to various forms of violence, including being whipped with belts and shot with kattas or country-made guns. The following day, on Teachers' Day, Modi again used the Dimagi Naxal label during his address at Shri Ram College of Commerce's Centenary event. Modi described it as a homeopathic dose to identify “Dimagi Naxals”, while the article alleges that his government remained silent about a violent brigade empowered by it.
India's dominant economic discourse has long focused on GDP, while per capita GDP receives less attention despite being a more meaningful indicator for a country facing economic backwardness and substantial social and economic inequality. In nominal terms, India ranks sixth in GDP, behind the US, China, Germany, Japan and the UK. In purchasing power parity terms, it ranks third, behind the US and China. On a per capita basis, however, India ranks 144-149 among 200 countries in nominal terms and 121-125 in purchasing power parity comparisons.
The 7.8% growth figure is a quarterly quick estimate and is likely to change when the final annual estimate is calculated. Questions over the figure have focused particularly on the assumed impact of inflation and the GDP figure for the comparable quarter of April-June 2025.
Former Finance and Economic Affairs Secretary Subhash Chandra Garg has pointed out that the first-quarter 2025 GDP figure was revised sharply downward to ₹80 trillion from the initial estimate of ₹86 trillion. Without that revision, the rate of nominal GDP growth would have been around 2.6% and almost nil in real terms. The article argues that this downward revision of the 2025 figures requires explanation before the current 7.8% growth figure can be accepted.
The deflator used to calculate real GDP estimates has also been described as much lower than the actual inflationary impact on prices and incomes. From Subhash Chandra Garg and Raghuram Rajan to Kaushik Basu and Arvind Subramanian, eminent economists with high-level experience in India's economic administration have questioned the data and the lack of transparency surrounding the exercise. The article argues that dismissing these questions undermines credibility and accountability.
Bharadwaj's claims have also raised broader concerns. The article says it would be a mistake to dismiss his statements as the isolated self-promotion of a young man. It points to his reported connections with the Delhi Police and BJP/NDA leaders, as well as his “guest presence” at events including the Prime Minister's swearing-in and Independence Day address. It also refers to detailed accounts attributed to him concerning violent assaults on Jantar Mantar protesters.
According to the article, Bharadwaj was part of a violent Hindutva brigade that allegedly punished people identified as internal enemies by the Modi government and the Sangh brigade, with “Dimagi Naxals” described as the most recently identified targets. The mention of a civil defence force for internal security by Prime Minister Modi during his latest Independence Day address from the ramparts of Lal Qila, reports of men in plain clothes beating protesters arriving from Delhi and several other cities, and allegations that prisoners participated in Jantar Mantar violence have further intensified these concerns.
The article compares the alleged private army represented by Bharadwaj and others with the Brown Shirts of Mussolini's Italy, the Black Shirts of Hitler's Germany and the Sangh brigade's Bajrang Dal.
The article presents the government's economic messaging and alleged political violence as two sides of the same political crisis. It argues that as the government faces economic pressures, including soaring prices, declining income and disappearing jobs, and as support weakens, the regime could increasingly rely on claims and alleged violence, whether state-led, private or operating through a public-private model. It concludes that liberal-sounding speeches by the RSS supremo for international audiences cannot conceal what the article describes as fascist aggression, and calls for democratic protests to remain firm and united against what it describes as a fascist design.
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