‘All talk, no action, govt playing game of smoke and mirrors’

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 govt 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 govt 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.