Rahul Gandhi, the leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha, said on July 29, that the Prime Minister Narendra Modi-led NDA government had stabbed the middle class in the front and the back with announcements in Budget 2024 amid an ‘atmosphere of fear’ across the country.
Gandhi spoke in Lok Sabha on Budget 2024 amid furore by Bhartiya Janata Party (BJP) lawmakers over his remarks about a Chakravyuh of 6 people that has trapped the country.
“Modiji asked the middle class to bang pots during COVID-19, and they did. Then he asked them to use their mobile phone's flashlights, and they did. But the same middle class was stabbed in the chest and in the back in Budget 2024,” Rahul Gandhi said, adding that the middle class has now started moving away from the BJP and towards the Congress party-led INDIA bloc.
The Budget session, which started on July 22, will conclude on August 12.
“By removing indexation, the BJP stabbed the middle class in the back and by enhancing long-term capital gains tax, the BJP stabbed the middle class in the front,” Gandhi said.
Speaker Om Birla also halted Gandhi's speech several times when he named industrialists Gautam Adani and Mukesh Ambani in his speech. Gandhi later referred to the two industrialists as ‘A1’ and ‘A2’.
Gandhi invoked the Chakravyuh'metaphor from the Mahabharata. Chakravyuh (a labyrinth of fear) was a battle formation that led to the death of Arjuna's son, Abhimanyu. Gandhi said the country is trapped in Chakravyuh, represented by the lotus symbol that Prime Minister Narendra Modi wears on his chest. He noted that the Chakravyuh was used to trap Abhimanyu.
"I expected that this budget would weaken the power of Chakravyuh. However, the sole aim of this budget is to strengthen the framework of big businesses, monopoly businesses, and political monopolies, which destroy democratic structures. This Chakravyuh has attacked the MSMEs through Demonitisation, GST, and Tax terrorism," Gandhi said.
“Similarly, the poor and farmers are being trapped in this Chakravyuh,” he said.
Rahul Gandhi named entities that had India in this Chakravyuh. Upon drawing flak from the speaker, he said he was willing to remove NSA, Mukesh Ambani and Gautam Adani's names from it.
“Chakravyuh controlling India has three controlling powers. They are the idea of monopoly capital, the political monopoly, and you may say, Deep State, the agencies – CBI and Enforcement Directorate (ED),” he said.
Rahul Gandhi also displayed a picture of the ‘halwa ceremony’ held ahead of the Budget 2024. He said no Dalits, OBCs, or Adivasis were in the picture. Union Minister for Parliamentary Affairs Kiren Rijiju asked Rahul Gandhi to read the rules of the House. Speaker Birla also asked Gandhi to read the rules of the house before speaking in the House.
Gandhi said that youth have been trapped in Agniveer Chakravyuh, adding that there are no provisions in Budget 2024 for pensions for Agniveers. Defence Minister Rajnath Singh asked Rahul Gandhi to avoid ‘misleading’ the country over the Agniveer scheme for recruitment in the Armed forces.
Gandhi also mentioned the NEET UG paper leaks in which the Supreme Court refused to order a re-exam. “Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman did not speak about the paper leak. The youth felt this was the most important issue, but it had not been addressed even once," Gandhi said.
Last week, Gandhi, MP from Raebareli, lashed out at Prime Minister Narendra Modi's government, calling the Budget 2024 a ‘kursi bachao’ Budget ‘favouring’ BJP allies and cronies.
“Kursi Bachao Budget. Appease Allies: Hollow promises to them at the cost of other states. Appease Cronies: Benefits to AA with no relief for the common Indian. Copy and Paste: Congress manifesto and previous budgets,” the Raebareli lawmaker wrote on X soon after the Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman presented the Budget 2024 in Parliament on July 23.
Gandhi referred to significant allocations to Bihar and Andhra Pradesh- the two state governments governed by BJP allies, the JD-U and the TDP.
Budget 2024 came against the backdrop of a changed political landscape in the country. The BJP fell short of the majority mark in the Lok Sabha elections 2024, forcing it to rely on its National Democratic Alliance (NDA) allies, including N Chandrababu Naidu's Telugu Desam Party (TDP) and Nitish Kumar's Janata Dal (United), to form the government at the Centre.
