Kolkata: Trinamool Congress (TMC) national general secretary and Diamond Harbour MP Abhishek Banerjee on Wednesday accused Union Finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman of epitomising a ‘widening economic divide in the country’.
In a post on X, Banerjee said he “genuinely” wished the Finance minister had taken the time to examine the sources of the information he tabled in the Lok Sabha before replying to his speech during the Budget discussion. “I come from two Indias. One where families struggle to afford onions and where survival itself becomes an aspiration. And another where the occupant of the nation’s highest financial office can casually declare she is unbothered — because she does not consume onions,” he wrote, tagging Sitharaman.
He added that she had not only acknowledged the existence of “two Indias” but had “embodied the divide so effortlessly”.
The TMC echoed the criticism in a separate X post, drawing contrasts between what it described as “her India” and “real India”. The party said that while babies in the Finance minister’s India might drink fresh milk, poor mothers in “real India” dilute powdered milk that attracts 5 per cent GST. It also referred to 12 per cent GST on items such as pencils, crayons, graph books and lab notebooks, and said anaesthetics, medical oxygen, insulin and diagnostic kits carry GST. Even incense sticks used at funerals are taxed, the party said.
The remarks come a day after Banerjee, speaking in the Lok Sabha during the Union Budget discussion, accused the Centre of neglecting Bengal and practising what he termed “subscription-based federalism”, alleging that Opposition-ruled states were being deprived of their rightful dues.
He had also alleged that the Centre is deliberately withholding the money for all central schemes in Bengal, but pointed out that the state government has shown what a self-reliant Bengal truly looks like.
“The Constitution promises equality among states, but this government practises preference. Allies are funded, while opponents are starved. This is not a model of cooperative federalism, but of subscription-based federalism,” he added.
Alleging that people are taxed thrice, Banerjee said: “An ordinary citizen believes they pay tax just once, but in reality, they pay tax three times. First, income tax is deducted even before the salary reaches their hands. Second, GST, from biscuits to notebooks, from sugar to spices, from electricity bills to medical expenses. Indirect taxes follow you everywhere.”
Banerjee had also attacked the Centre over the “unplanned SIR”. He said: “In Bengal alone, 150 lives have been lost in the last couple of months, and nearly one crore people are being treated as suspects. If electoral rolls are so unreliable that every citizen has to constantly prove their legitimacy, then the legitimacy of this very House becomes questionable”.