In a veiled jibe at the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday said some political outfits are trying to fool the youth and don't fulfill their promises after winning elections.
Replying to the Motion of Thanks on President's address in Lok Sabha, PM Modi said, "We are continuously working keeping the future of the youth in mind, but there are some parties who are cheating the youth. These parties make promises during elections but do not fulfill them. These parties have fallen like a burden (AAPda) on the future of the youth."
The prime minister's remark comes a day before Delhi Assembly elections, where his Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is the main challenger to the ruling AAP.
PM Modi also said that his government believes in spending money on public welfare and not for building "sheesh mahal."
"Earlier, the headlines of newspapers used to be about scams. It has been 10 years, due to no scams, lakhs of crores of rupees of the country have been saved, which are being used in the service of the people. The various steps that we took resulted in saving lakhs and crores of rupees, but we did not use that money to build the 'sheesh mahal'," he said.
PM Modi said while the talk on social media is mostly about leaders focussed on "jacuzzi and stylish showers," his government's focus is on providing water to every home.
PM Modi's attack on Congress
In an apparent jibe at former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi, PM Modi said, "There used to be a prime minister in our country who had said that when one rupee leaves Delhi, only 15 paise reaches the villages. At that time, there was rule of one party from Panchayat to Parliament."
"The country gave us an opportunity, we tried to find solutions. Our model is - savings as well as development, public money, for the public," he added.
PM Modi also took a swipe at Congress leader Rahul Gandhi over his caste census demand.
"Talking about caste has become a fashion for some people. The OBC MPs who have been coming to the House for the last 30 years have been rising above party differences and have been demanding that the OBC Commission be given constitutional status. Those who see creamy layer in casteism today did not remember OBCs at that time. We gave constitutional status to the OBC Commission," PM Modi said.
PM Modi hails tax cuts in Budget
The prime minister also hailed the Union Budget 2025 and Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman for giving relief to the middle class by announcing tax rebate.
"In the last 10 years, we have enhanced savings of the middle class by reducing income tax. Before 2014, such 'bombs' were hurled and 'bullets' were shot, that it affected the lives of people. We gradually healed those wounds and moved forward. In 2013-2014 tax exemption was only on Rs 2 lakh income. Today there is an Income tax exemption on Rs 12 lakh income. We healed wounds and today we have applied bandages too," he said.
"If we add the Rs 75,000 standard deduction, after April 1, salaried class in the country will not have to pay any tax on income upto Rs 12.75 lakh," the PM added.