New Delhi: The Congress on Wednesday accused the Centre of playing the game of "smoke-and-mirrors" with its interim budget and asked the Modi government "kiska saath aur kiska vikas" when the poor, women, youth and farmers were among the "worst performing groups" economically.
Initiating the debate on the Interim Budget 2024-25 in Lok Sabha, senior Congress leader Shashi Tharoor said the government was about "all talk and no action" and dubbed the ruling NDA as "no data available" to reveal the real situation of poverty and consumption in the country.
Taking a swipe at Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman's remarks describing GDP as governance, development and performance, Tharoor said that under the current dispensation 'G' "stands for governmental intrusion and tax terrorism, 'D' for demographic betrayal and 'P' for poverty continuing".
"This actual 'GDP' also jettisons the trinity of 'demography, democracy and diversity' that the government claims to be serving.
"The demographic dividend is on the cusp of becoming a demographic disaster with the unemployment crisis, K-shaped growth, and the ever-widening schism between the rich and poor," Tharoor alleged.
In a scathing attack at the government, Tharoor said that in 2014 the people chose to offer a mandate to the current dispensation with the hope that this government would come through on their "bloated rhetoric" of 'Sabka Saath, Sabka Vikas (Together will all, development for all)', the "illusory promise" of inclusive development for all Indians.
"Fast forward to 10 years later, we find the people of this country have been sadly betrayed by a government whose economic mismanagement in this past decade has left the people of India staring at widespread distress, hardship, low incomes and high unemployment," the Congress leader said.
Noting that the finance minister talked about four new castes poor, women, youth and farmers, the Congress leader said all four groups are some of the worst performing groups in most categories of social and economic policy performance.
"The unprecedented levels of unemployment have left countless citizens, especially our young demographic workforce, with few prospects for a brighter tomorrow," he said.
Citing unemployment data figures, Tharoor said, "We have to ask the government -- 'kiska saath aur kiska vikas' (Together with whom, development of whom)."
Democracy is suffering through this government's "arrogant contempt" for institutions, Tharoor said and cited the suspension of 146 MPs during the last session.
He alleged that laws were being bulldozed as per the government's whims and fancies with no regard for parliamentary procedure.
The Kerala MP said a government under which a no-confidence motion is required to be moved before its leaders speak on vital issues including Manipur should ideally refrain from claiming to be "the messiah of democracy, let alone its mother".
"And when it comes to diversity, the record hasn't been great, either, with increasing attacks on religious minorities, the ruthless dispensing of 'bulldozer justice', mob lynching, communal violence and worse.
"Combined with the disregard for states ...a skewed and centralising 'co-operative federalism', under which the states are meant to 'co-operate' but the Centre 'operates' as it pleases, the government has failed gravely on all the counts where it pats its own back," Tharoor alleged.
Therefore, it is imperative that this House realises the game of "smoke-and-mirrors" that the government is playing with the interim budget - with nearly no redressal of the crises plaguing our economy and affecting the common person.
"It is high time that this election gives others an opportunity to show up their shallow rhetoric for what it is which is - all talk and no action," the former Union minister said.
Tharoor said this government still believes in trickle-down economics.
"We believe in trickle-up: if our economy produces the things that people wish to consume at affordable prices, the 'aam aadmi' (common man) will not only live better but will become a full participant in the economy," he said.
Talking about the poor sections of society, Tharoor said the government claims it made 25 crore people free from multi-dimensional poverty in the last 10 years but that claim needs to be interrogated.
"We are in a statistical void and what we only have is the multi-dimensional poverty index of the Niti Aayog which is a new index that they have created and it cannot be compared with any past poverty numbers.
"We absolutely have no basis for judging whether poverty has actually gone down as the finance minister claims... the NDA apparently stands for No Data Available," he said.
On farmers, Tharoor said that close to 689 lakh farmers enrolled under the PM Fasal Bima Yojana during the 2022-23 season but claims were paid to only 7.8 lakh.
"The number of beneficiaries enrolled under PM Kisan Samman Nidhi Yojana decreased from 11.84 crore in 2019 to 3.78 crore in 2022, marking a 67% decline," he said.
Tharoor said the "rhetoric" surrounding Nari Shakti too requires "additional debunking as while we in the opposition welcome the women's reservation law, we are deeply sceptical about the vague timeline of the government".
The finance minister reserving an amount of Rs 11,11,111 crore for capital expenditure shows there is nothing particularly scientific about the calculations in her budget, Tharoor said and added that the minister who chooses a lucky number is heading an economy that needs all the luck it can get.
