 "WATCH: Desh ka halwa bat raha hai, says Rahul Gandhi; Sitharaman face-palms")
Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi on Monday criticised the Narendra Modi government for its recently introduced Budget for the current financial year accusing the Centre of supporting crony capitalism.
While addressing the Parliament, Gandhi said the Centre has failed social groups such as the farmers and youth, and double-stabbed the middle class of India through ‘tax terrorism’.
Rahul Gandhi evokes Mahabharata epic in Lok Sabha
The Congress leader referred to the Hindu mythological epic Mahabharata to suggest that Prime Minister Modi has “trapped” India in a modern ‘chakravyuh’ like the Kauravas had done to Abhimanyu.
He claimed that six people are at the centre of this ‘chakravyuh’: Modi, Union Home Minister Amit Shah, National Security Advisor Ajit Doval, Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh Chief Mohan Bhagwat, and billionaire industrialists Mukesh Ambani and Gautam Adani.
Nirmala Sitharaman face-palms as Rahul Gandhi speaks
Looking towards Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharam, who was sitting across the House from him, Gandhi said “desh ka halwa bat raha hai….”
He was referring to the customary halwa ceremony, held ahead of the Budget. Gandhi attempted to display a photo of the halwa ceremony, highlighting that it lacked diversity in terms of social representation, suggesting that it reflected “concentration of power”.” To this, Sitharaman was seen face-palming herself.
Congress’ push for caste-based census
Since the Lok Sabha election 2024 campaign, Gandhi and his party have been pushing for a caste-based census survey and allocation of the country’s resources proportional to the population of a certain caste in the form of reservation.
The ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has been attempting to dismiss this narrative by saying that there are only four castes in India: Women, youth, farmers and dalits.
During the Budget presentation, Sitharaman had said the Budget was made focussing on these ‘castes’.
However, certain Budget reforms such as hikes in short and long-term capital gains for equities, removal of indexation in real estate transactions, etc have invited criticism from the public, particularly the middle-class sections.