New Delhi, Sept. 4 -- Congress leader Shashi Tharoor has backed his party's criticism surrounding India's latest GDP numbers calling it 'devastating critique', saying the government needs to provide straightforward answers or risk damaging the credibility of the country's economic data and growth projections.

The Congress party on 3 September raised questions on the latest GDP figures released by the government earlier this week. The opposition party asked why there was a substantial downward revision in Gross Domestic Product (GDP) estimates for the last four years and sought a detailed account of how this revision was done.

"This is a devastating critique that requires straightforward responses from the government," Tharoor said in a ...