By Parameswaran Valeri
Leader of Opposition Rahul Gandhi criticized the ruling National Democratic Alliance (NDA) government over its Union budget, saying that the Centre led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Home Minister Amit Shah has “stabbed the middle class from the back and the front”.
The middle class who, when PM Narendra Modi asked to, clapped plates and lit mobile torches during covid. “The country’s middle class has been stabbed from both sides by Modi and Shah,” stated Rahul Gandhi.
With the cancellation of indexation tax being the “stab” from the back and the hiking of long term capital gains tax being the “stab” from the front, Rahul Gandhi said the middle class would not support PM Narendra Modi after this budget and would stand by the INDIA bloc.
The opposition leader alleged that the country is being controlled by a few individuals. The first two being the PM and the HM, who have locked the country in a “Chakravyuh”, said Rahul Gandhi, and added that opposition parties would break the “chakravyuh” for the people.
The Congress MP went on to say, “The nation’s poor are not able to dream, only Adani and Ambani are able to do so.” By this point, Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla intervened and reminded the LoP to “read” the Parliamentary Rules of Procedure at least one more time. Om Birla stressed the Parliamentary rule does not allow mentioning names of anyone outside the members of parliament in the house.
“You are Leader of the Opposition. I expect you to first read all the rules of procedure at least one more time,” In response, Rahul Gandhi said that if he cannot name them, he will have to hypothetically call them A1 and A2, stressing the need to speak about the monopoly held by two industrialists. He accused them of controlling the business infrastructure of the country.
“They control the country’s airports, telecom systems, ports, and now they are taking over the railways too,” stated Rahul Gandhi. He went on to say they have a monopoly over the “wealth of Hindustan”, sparking uproar from the ruling NDA side of the house. He added that if the opposition cannot speak about these two industrial moguls, please give the opposition another system to have a dialogue about them, stressing the need for the dialogue on economic monopoly.
