Modi Government Taking Hard Working Middle Class Instead of Rich Corporates, Says P Chidambaram

In a series of tweets, the minister had said the budget was an occasion to outline the reforms and set a schedule. "Instead, what we got was Elizabethan prose about an ambitious reform agenda under the rubric of an Enhanced Access and Service Excellence (EASE) programme," he said.

New Delhi, Feb 8: Launching a scathing attack on the NDA government led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, senior Congress leader P Chidambaram on Thursday said that the Centre is taxing hardworking middle class instead of rich corporates. Chidambaram, posing 12 questions in the Rajya Sabha, said that Budget 2018 presented by Union finance minister Arun Jaitley has worsened the fiscal deficit.

He added that India remains the only country where the GDP has gone up and jobs have decreased. “Where have all the jobs gone? what is this mystery? I will tell you,” said Chidambaram.

Question 8. Before you assumed office, you promised 2 crore jobs a year. The ILO describes a proper job as employment that is certain, regular and reasonably secure. What is your definition of a job? How many ILO-described jobs were created in the four years of your government?

— P. Chidambaram (@PChidambaram_IN) February 8, 2018

Question 9. In 2017-18, the budget estimates of customs duties was Rs 2,45,000 crore. The revised estimates show a drastic fall to Rs 1,35,242 crore. Is there a story there that you have not yet told the country and the people?

— P. Chidambaram (@PChidambaram_IN) February 8, 2018

Earlier, Chidambaram had dubbed  the NDA government as a “terrible patient” who is not paying heed to a good doctor like Chief Economic Advisor Arvind Subramanian.

“Arvind Subramanian has been a good doctor since his appointment as the CEA in October 2014. The NDA government has been a terrible patient,” the former finance minister had tweeted.

“The government continues to be in denial. It denies the objective situation in the economy. It denies farm distress. It denies joblessness. It denies the opposition’s arguments. Now, it denies even the diagnosis and the prescription of the doctor it engaged in 2014,” he alleged.

In a series of tweets, Chidambaram had said that budget was an occasion to outline the reforms and set a schedule. “Instead, what we got was Elizabethan prose about an ambitious reform agenda under the rubric of an Enhanced Access and Service Excellence (EASE) programme,” he said.