 "Rahul Gandhi, Rahul, congress leader")
Gandhi said the Budget reduced the allocation for education and was silent on pensions for Agniveers. (Photo: PTI)
Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha, Rahul Gandhi, on Monday said the Union Budget for FY25 betrayed the middle class by increasing the tax on the long-term and short-term capital gains and removing the benefit of indexation. He claimed the middle class, which, he said, has been the ruling party’s core support base, were now deserting it.
Participating in the discussion on the Budget in the Lok Sabha, Gandhi faulted the Centre’s Employment-Linked Incentive (ELI) Scheme, which, he said, focuses on the top 500 companies that employ merely a per cent of the workforce, but ignores the informal sector. The Congress leader said 99 per cent of the youth will not benefit from the scheme. In an explanatory note that the Congress released later in the day on Gandhi’s speech, the party asked how 500 companies with 7 million employees could hire 10 million interns.
In his 40-minute speech in the Lok Sabha, Gandhi spoke of the atmosphere of fear in the country, which, he alleged, also pervaded the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). “Why is it that my friends in the BJP are terrified, the ministers are terrified, and farmers are terrified, workers, youngsters…?”
The answer, Gandhi said, was in a group of six men trapping the entire country in a chakravyuha, which he promised the INDIA bloc would shatter. Explaining the mythological context of the chakravyuha, a multi-layered battle formation referred to in the epic Mahabharata, Gandhi said it involved thousands of troops but six men controlled it at its core. He said these men used the ‘chakravyuha’ formation to trap and slay Pandava warrior Abhimanyu.
Gandhi said another name for the chakravyuha is padmavyuha, or lotus-shaped formation (the BJP’s election symbol). He said a padmavyuha had been devised in the 21st century to trap India’s youth, women, small, and medium businesses. Gandhi said six people control it at its core, whom he named, including Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Amit Shah, and others.
Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla intervened to remind Gandhi, as he did on several occasions during the Congress leader’s speech, of parliamentary rules of procedure, such as not taking the names of people who are not members of the House. Later, in a post on X, Gandhi said, “Today a 21st century lotus-shaped Chakravyuh is trapping India and is controlled by six figures: Narendra Modi, Amit Shah, Adani, Ambani, Ajit Doval, and Mohan Bhagwat.”
In his speech in the LS, Gandhi identified “three forces” that run the chakravyuha – big businesses or monopoly capital, central agencies, such as the Enforcement Directorate, Income Tax Department and Central Bureau of Investigation and finally the political executive. He said the expectation was that the Budget would weaken the chakravyuha to help India’s farmers, youth, and workers. However, the intent of the Budget has been to strengthen this framework of big business and political monopoly that destroys democracy. Gandhi alleged the government has unleashed tax terrorism on the small and medium enterprises, who are the primary vehicle to provide jobs to the youth, and the ELI scheme was akin to applying bandage to a broken leg.
Gandhi said the Budget reduced the allocation for education, and was silent on pensions for Agniveers. Speaking in the Lok Sabha shortly after Gandhi’s speech, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh accused the Congress leader of misleading the nation on the sensitive issue of national security and the Agnipath initiative. Singh said he was ready to make a statement on the issue.
The Congress leader said the middle class supported the PM before the Budget, but it has stabbed them in the back and in the chest by increasing the tax on LTCG, STCG and removing the indexation benefit. He said this was unfortunate, but has a “hidden benefit” for the INDIA bloc since they “are now deserting you and coming to our side”.
Gandhi, showing a photograph of the pre-Budget ‘halwa’ ceremony, alleged that there were no Dalits, tribals and Other Backward Classes (OBCs) presented in the picture. He said 73 per cent of India’s population had no representation when ‘halwa’ was being distributed. He said 20 officers prepared the Budget, two of whom are from the minority and OBC communities, but were not part of the ceremony. He reiterated the INDIA bloc’s commitment, when it forms a government at the Centre, to conduct a nationwide caste Census and ensure a legal guarantee for minimum support price for farmers.
The Congress leader claimed the Opposition has dented the PM’s confidence. Referring to Lord Shiva’s wedding procession, or Shivji ki baraat, Gandhi said anyone can join it and in all religions people are welcomed in religious places but in the government’s chakravyuha there are only six people.
“The fight is between Shivji ki baraat and chakravyuha. We break chakravyuhas — the freedom movement, Constitution, green revolution, MGNREGS are all examples of it,” he said. “Chakravyuha cannot defeat Shivaji ki baraat. You call yourself Hindu, you do not understand Hinduism,” he said, slamming the BJP.
First Published: Jul 29 2024 | 8:41 PM IST