FILE - Congress leader Mallikarjun Kharge (PTI PHOTO)
NEW DELHI — Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge on Saturday said the
government is busy garnering praises for the Union Budget when the entire
country is struggling with problems of inflation and unemployment, and asserted
that the Budget is an attempt to "dupe" the people.
He said the Budget is aptly described by the Hindi
proverb 'Nau sau choohe khake billi hajj ko chali' (roughly translated to
seeking to be pious after committing a number of sins).
In a post on X in Hindi, Kharge said that in the last 10
years, the Narendra Modi government has collected Rs 54.18 lakh crore of income
tax from the middle class, and now the exemption is being given to those
earning up to Rs 12 lakh.
The finance minister has herself stated that there will
be a saving of Rs 80,000 per year, Kharge said and pointed out that is only Rs
6,666 per month.
"The whole country is struggling with the problem of
inflation and unemployment, but the Modi government is bent on garnering false
praises," he said.
In this 'announcement-making' budget, Make in India has
been changed to National Manufacturing Mission to hide its flaws, Kharge said.
"All other announcements are almost like this. There
is nothing for the youth. Modi ji had promised yesterday that he would take a
big step for the empowerment of women in this budget, but nothing like that
happened in the budget," he said.
No roadmap to double farmers' income and no concession in
GST rates on agricultural inputs, Kharge said.
"There is no plan for health, education or
scholarship for Dalit, tribal, backward class, poor and minority children.
There are no reform measures to increase private investment. Their failures
have been hidden by saying a few superficial things on export and tariff,"
he said.
Kharge said that nothing has been done to increase the
income of the poor and not a single step has been taken to address the
continuously falling consumption.
"Despite skyrocketing inflation, the budget of
MGNREGA remains the same. Nothing has been done to increase the income of
workers. There is no mention of any reform in the Multiple Rates of GST. To
reduce unemployment, there was no talk of creating jobs," he said.
Startup India, Standup India and Skill India, all the
schemes, have turned out to be mere announcements, he said.
"Overall this Budget 2025 is an attempt by the Modi
Government to dupe the people," the Congress chief sai
