Budget a 'silent strike' on poor by Modi govt: Sonia Gandhi

Former Congress president Sonia Gandhi on Monday said Union Budget 202324 is a silent strike on the poor by the Modi government and hits at the heart of all farreaching rightsbased legislation enacted during the UPA ruleIn an opinion piece in The Indian Express Gandhi also made an apparent reference to the allegations against the Adani Group saying Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his ministers are resorting to loud chants of vishwa guru and Amrit Kaal even as financial scandals erupt over his favourite and favoured businessmanThe prime ministers policy to benefit his few rich friends at the expense of poor and middleclass Indians has led to continuous disasters from demonetisation to a badlydesigned GST hurting small businesses to the failed attempt to bring about the three farm laws and the subsequent neglect of agriculture Gandhi allegedDestructive privatisation has handed over priceless national assets to selected private hands cheaply leading to unemployment especially for the SCs and STs she chargedEven the hardearned savings of crores of poor and middleclass Indians are threatened as the government forces trusted public institutions like LIC and SBI to invest in poorlymanaged companies owned by its chosen friends she said in an apparent reference to the allegations against the Adani GroupAdani Group stocks have taken a beating on the bourses after USbased activist shortseller Hindenburg Research made a litany of allegations including fraudulent transactions and share price manipulation against the Gautam Adaniled group which has dismissed the allegations as liesAlso Read Letter to Sonia Gandhi in my name fake SiddaramaiahOpposition parties including the Congress have alleged that the meltdown in Adani Group shares is a scam that involves common peoples money as LIC and SBI have invested in themBereft of ideas the prime minister and his ministers are resorting to loud chants of vishwaguru and Amrit Kaal even as financial scandals erupt over the PMs favourite and favoured businessman This will be of scant help to crores of vulnerable Indians worried about their livelihoods savings and futures Gandhi saidIt is now the duty of likeminded Indians to join hands oppose this governments harmful actions and together build the change which people long to see she said in her piece in the English dailyIn the recentlyconcluded Bharat Jodo Yatra yatris walked from Kanyakumari to Kashmir and interacted with lakhs of Indians from all walks of life The voices they heard expressed deep economic distress and widespread disappointment about the direction in which India is headed Gandhi saidWhether poor or middle class rural or urban Indians are being punished by the triple menace of price rise unemployment and falling incomes she saidThe 202324 budget not only fails to address these critical challenges but also worsens them by slashing allocations meant for the poor and the vulnerable the chairperson of the Congress parliamentary party saidIt is a silent strike on the poor by the Modi government hitting at the heart of all farreaching rightsbased legislations enacted by the UPA government during 200414 the former Congress chief saidGandhi said that the promise of independence was of a good life for every Indian not only to satisfy their basic needs but to have equal opportunities to empower themselves socially economically and politicallyThe rightsbased legislation of the UPA era was a deliberate cohesive step towards this goal she addedRightsbased laws empower citizens and ensure it is the governments duty to deliver on education food work and nutrition Gandhi stressedShe alleged that the prime minister makes no secret of his dislike for all this talk of rightsHe began by ridiculing them in Parliament but was forced to rely on them during COVID19 With this budget he has rolled back funding to lows not seen in over a decade she saidRural labourers will have less work as funding for MGNREGA has been reduced by a third bringing it below 201819 levels Gandhi pointed outOur schools will be strapped for resources with funding for the rebranded Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan remaining stagnant for three years in a row Children will have less nutritious meals as funding for midday meals in schools has fallen by a tenth this year the former Congress chief saidThis deadly combination of insufficient funding and rising inflation directly hurts the nations poorest and most disadvantaged she opinedAs expected there has been total silence from the Prime Minister on why this attack on social schemes was needed during this crisis Reading between the lines we understand that the rationale is to fund capital expenditure which the budget has sharply increased she saidExperts have raised doubts about the credibility of the figures whether the funding can be well spent and are wary that a large portion of the funding may reach only the governments friends and cronies Gandhi saidHowever even setting these doubts aside there is a larger point funding infrastructure at the expense of human development is a mistake both in the short term and long term the Congress leader arguedIn the long term history teaches us that a healthy and educated population is the foundation for prosperity Gandhi stressedGandhi said that sharp cuts to social security education nutrition and health hurt the poorest today and stunt the countrys progress tomorrowThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever