New Delhi: Two days after Union Budget for 2021-22 was tabled in Parliament by Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Wednesday (February 3) strongly criticised the General Budget, saying it was for one per cent of the population. He also added that the budget gave a wrong message to China by not significantly raising defence allocation.
Addressing a press conference, Rahul Gandhi said the conditions in India are “dangerous” which require Prime Minister Narendra Modi to take quick action.
Coming down heavily on Modi, he said, “It (conditions) requires that the prime minister put money immediately into the hands of our people and revive the economy, it requires that he protects the small and medium businesses who give us jobs…It requires a clear message to China that ‘you cannot do this with us, you cannot be sitting inside our land and expect that nothing is going to happen.”
Alleging that there is no leadership in the country anymore, Rahil Gandhi said, “There is just talk, there is no understanding, no strategy. What is there is a media that is controlled so the reality of what is going on is not coming out. This Maya is going to break.”
He further argued that what India needed was money in the hands of the people, asserting that the economy can be revived only through consumption and cannot happen from the supply side.
The Congress leader alleged, “My expectation from the Budget was that government will provide support to 99 per cent of India’s population. But this Budget is for one per cent population. You (the government) snatched away money from people in the small and medium industry, workers, farmers, forces, and put it in the pockets of 5-10 people.”
He said that If the government would have introduced something like the proposed income guarantee scheme NYAY, given money to small and medium industries, protected them, the economy could have been revived, adding “Economy will not get revived by the supply side. They are trying again and again and are giving money to one per cent of the population, but the economy will not revive. This is the reality.” the former Congress chief said.
According to him, “China enters into India and takes away thousands of kilometres of our land. What message do you give them in our budget– that we won’t increase our defence expenditure. You raised it by Rs 3000-4000 crore. What message did you give? ‘You can enter India and do whatever you want, we won’t support our defence forces’.”
Rahul said that jawans in Ladakh and air force pilots would be feeling that they are facing such adversity, but the government is not giving them money, adding “The money which belongs to the forces, it is being given to those 5-10 people. This will not benefit the country.”
Notably, overall defence budget for 2021-22 was hiked marginally by around 1.4 percent but there was a nearly 19 per cent rise in capital outlay for military modernisation. According to the 2021-22 budget documents presented by Sitharaman, the allocation for the defence services was increased to Rs 4.78 lakh crore compared to Rs 4.71 lakh crore in the 2020-21 budget.
Rahul Gandhi on farmers’ protest
Amid the ongoing farmers’ protest against the new farm laws, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi said that India’s reputation has taken a “massive hit” and its biggest strength, its soft power, has been “shattered” by the BJP and the RSS. He said the farmers’ issue needs to be resolved as soon as possible and the government needs to listen to them.
Asked if India’s image at the international level has taken a beating with barricading at Delhi’s borders where farmers are protesting and reports of treatment meted out to them, Rahul Gandhi said, “Absolutely the reputation of India has taken a massive hit. Not only on how we are treating our farmers but on how we treat our people, how we treat journalists.”
He further said, “Our biggest strength, you can call it soft power, has been shattered by the BJP-RSS, their mindset,” while addressing a press conference.
Referring to the multi-layered barricading and roadblocks at protest sites, he asked why the national capital was being converted into a “fortress”, and asserted that farmers work hard for the country and should not be treated in this manner.
“My constant request to the prime minister is ‘do your job’. Your job is not to sell this country to one per cent of the population, your job is to protect the ‘kisaan’ (farmers) who are standing outside (Delhi). Go hold their hand, give them a hug and tell them ‘what is it that I can do for you’,” Rahul Gandhi added.
Rahul ‘conspires’ with anti-India elements: BJP
The BJP lashed out at Congress leader Rahul Gandhi, alleging that he conspires with anti-India elements during his trip abroad. “We stand together. We stand United against all attempts to malign India through propaganda and fake narratives,” BJP president J P Nadda tweeted as a storm brew over the issue.
At a press conference, BJP spokesperson Sambit Patra hit out at Gandhi over his attack on the government over the farmers’ issue, alleging “He goes abroad to hatch conspiracy with anti-India elements as to how to defame India and drag the country into controversies.”
Patra claimed that be it Rihanna, an international pop singer, or former adult star Mia Khalifa or others like them who have tweeted, Rahul Gandhi meets these people for anti-India propaganda.
(With Agency Inputs)
