The Congress party on Sunday said the country needed to be “rescued from the hands of incompetent economic managers” and Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)’s philosophical belief in a “coercive economic regime” and “artificial principle of oneness”.

Chidambaram said four years of Narendra Modi government has, rather than pulling them from it, pushed more people into poverty, that banks were on the brink because of mounting NPAs (non-performing assets) and demonetization and goods and services tax (GST) have destroyed jobs.

“One party which can pull this country out of crisis is the Congress party. I say that not out of arrogance, not out of conceit. I say that because we have done it before and we will do it again,”Chidambaram said in an uncharacteristically combative speech.

Alluding to the trials that his family has recently faced, Chidambaram said: “Some thought that I would not stand here today to speak to you and present the economic resolution,” he said.

But, Chidambaram said, he drew his courage and strength from each of the Congress workers present in the stadium, and the “steel” in him has been instilled in him because of his 45-years in the Congress party. Chidambaram said “The Union Budget 2018-19 has provided no answers to solve the problems facing the country and is the “handiwork” of “completely helpless, completely clueless, completely directionless” government.