A file photo of Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi Vadra
| Photo Credit: PTI
Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi Vadra slammed the BJP-led Centre over its proposal to borrow more than ₹14 lakh crore, asking why the government is “drowning the people in debt” the “burden of unemployment, inflation and economic crisis” is increasing.
In her budget speech last month, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman proposed to borrow ₹14.13 lakh crore by issuing dated securities to meet a revenue shortfall in the next financial year starting April 1.
In a post in Hindi on X on March 30, Ms. Gandhi said, “The Finance Ministry stated that the government is going to borrow more than ₹14 lakh crore in the current financial year. Why?” In the 67 years since independence till 2014, the country’s total debt was ₹55 lakh crore, the Congress general secretary said while pointing out that in the last decade, the Narendra Modi government increased it to ₹205 lakh crore. The Modi government has borrowed about ₹150 lakh crore in the last 10 years, she claimed.
“Today, every citizen of the country has an average debt of about ₹1.5 lakh. For which aspect of nation-building was this money used?” she asked on the microblogging platform. Were jobs created on a large scale or did jobs disappear, she asked. “Has the income of farmers doubled? Are schools and hospitals given a facelift? Has the public sector been strengthened or weakened? Have big factories and industries been set up?” she asked.
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If this has not happened, if the core sectors of the economy are seen to be in a state of disrepair, if the labour force has declined, if small and medium businesses have been destroyed, then where has this money gone, the Congress leader asked. “On whom was it spent? How much money was written off in this? How much money was spent on loan waivers for big billionaires?” she asked further.
“Now, when the Centre is preparing to borrow, the question arises that why is the BJP government drowning the people in debt when instead of providing relief to them, the burden of unemployment, inflation and economic crisis kept on increasing in the last 10 years,” she said.
Centre is ‘pressuring’ the judiciary, says Ms. Gandhi
In another post, Ms. Gandhi accused the Centre of “pressuring” the judiciary after the Supreme Court struck down the electoral bonds scheme and wondered whether the Narendra Modi government does not approve of an independent and strong judiciary. Her remarks came days after Prime Minister Modi criticised the grand old party in reaction to more than 600 lawyers writing to the Chief Justice of India, alleging that a “vested interest group” is trying to pressurise the judiciary and defame courts. PM Modi said it was a “vintage Congress culture” to browbeat and bully others.
In a post in Hindi on X, Ms. Gandhi said, “The manner in which the judicial system is being pressured by getting letters written after seeing the layers of scams being exposed by a decision of the Supreme Court on electoral bonds (which the public is calling ‘extortion racket’), and then the prime minister himself entering the arena and making negative comments on the judiciary, shows that there is something fishy.” “And there is something about which he himself is probably nervous,” she said.
“Troubled by political interference, Supreme Court judges holding press conferences, sending a judge to Rajya Sabha, fielding a (former) judge as a candidate in elections, trying to control the appointment of judges and commenting on the judiciary when decisions are against them… Does Modiji’s government not approve of an independent and strong judiciary?” she asked.