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Filed ₹2 cr defamation suit against Subhash Garg, says Nishikant Dubey
BJP MP Nishikant Dubey filed a defamation case against ex-finance secretary Subhash Garg over GDP growth claims, intensifying their public feud.
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Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MP Nishikant Dubey on Monday filed a ₹2-crore defamation case against former finance secretary Subhash Chandra Garg, marking the latest escalation in a bitter public spat over GDP growth figures and allegations of misconduct.
“Today, a case of criminal defamation worth 2 crore has been filed against former Finance Secretary Subhash Garg in Patiala Court Delhi and Delhi High Court. Now the decision will be made by the court itself; this case will also evaluate my parliamentary tenure of the last 18 years,” Dubey said in a post in Hindi on Monday evening.
The MP had earlier sent a legal notice to Garg, who refused to withdraw his comments about their 2018 interaction.The MP denies that they had ever met.
To be sure, the public spat between the two began when Garg raised questions over the official GDP data.
GDP numbers
The first was over Garg’s interpretation of the government’s GDP data. In an opinion piece published in The Quint on September 2, Garg questioned the 7.8% real GDP growth for the first quarter of 2026-27 and argued that the actual GDP growth at current prices was 2.6% and real growth was “close to 0”. In another article, Garg questioned the government’s explanation of the revised GDP numbers and referred to a ₹12.7 lakh crore difference in GDP for 2024-25.
The dispute quickly turned personal. Dubey dismissed Garg’s critique, claiming that the retired Indian Administrative Service (IAS) officer was disgruntled because he was removed as the country’s finance ministry in 2019 due to what the MP claimed was the official’s “ignorance”. He also shared a letter sent to Prime Minister Narendra Modi in March 2018 , criticising Garg’s approach to fiscal policy.
Garg rebutted Dubey’s account of his exit from the finance ministry, saying his transfer to the power ministry was consensual and that he later chose voluntary retirement.
The 2018 allegations
The second dispute relates to an alleged interaction between the two in 2018. Garg said in a podcast that Dubey approached him and sought his intervention with the chairman of the Life Insurance Corporation of India (LIC) over a transfer or procurement-related matter. Garg said he refused and asked Dubey to approach the Department of Financial Services instead.
Garg later described Dubey as a “blackmailing kind of person”, saying the MP subsequently used other official channels to pressure him.
Dubey insisted that the allegation was “false, fabricated and malicious” and sent him legal notice.
The notice dated September 21 asked Garg to withdraw the allegations, issue an unconditional apology, remove the podcast and related clips and disclose the factual and documentary basis for his claims. It also warned of criminal defamation proceedings under Section 356 of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, besides civil proceedings for damages and injunctions.
On X, Dubey denied ever visiting Garg’s office in the finance ministry, gave him seven days to apologise, declaring that he would try to send him to jail.
Garg countered, maintaining that his account of the 2018 events was truthful and that Dubey made defamatory statements against him too but he had decided against filing a case.
Dubey rebutted the claim. “Lies have no legs, have we ever spoken, neither personally nor over the phone? Have you ever even seen the Principal Secretary’s room in the Prime Minister’s Office? Nor have I ever met Jaitley ji or Nirmala Sitharaman ji in the Finance Ministry…Even a chameleon would feel ashamed of your cunning,” he said, responding to Garg’s post on September 27.
