The Newshour Debate: Fact versus fact(Part 3)

From war of words to the battle between the lines, after Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi's scathing attack on United Progressive Alliance (UPA) Government's expenditure in the education sector, the Congress hits back at the Bhartiya Janata Party (BJP) with their numbers. Modi said, "China allocates 20 percent of its GDP for education. India aimed to allot 7 percent of our GDP for education but we have been stuck at 4 percent." Congress General Secretary Ajay Maken said, "Modi has been saying how many percent it (percentage of GDP allocation for education) should be 20 or 7 percent. During NDAs rule it was 1.67 percent, and during our rule, in the 11th plan implementation was 4.02 percent."

Congress Minister of State for HRD Shashi Tharoor turns on the aggression quoting facts from the Chinese news agency claiming the dragon spends only 3.93 percent of their GDP on the education instead of 20 percent as claimed by the BJP's poster boy. Shashi Tharoor said, "Modi claims China spends 20% of GDP on education. Reality from Xinhua, China's official news agency: 3.93%." In fact Congress even countering Modi's attack on UPA's food scheme questioning dipping statistics of mid day meal scheme in Gujarat.

In a debate moderated by TIMES NOW's Editor-in-Chief Arnab Goswami, panelists -- Dr Subramaniam Swamy, President, Janata Party; Smriti Irani, Vice President & MP, Rajya Sabha, BJP; Shaktisinh Gohil, Leader, Congress and Sanjay Jha, Spokesperson, Congress -- discuss whether, Modi versus Congress is a fight on facts, who's got the upper hand?