In a scathing critique, Congress luminary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra lambasted the BJP-led Central administration on the weekend for its proposition to procure over Rs 14 trillion, querying why the government is “submerging the populace in indebtedness” instead of alleviating their plight, as the “weight of joblessness, inflation, and economic tumult” continues to mount.
During her fiscal discourse the previous month, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman advocated for borrowing Rs 14.13 trillion by issuing dated securities to offset a revenue deficit in the ensuing financial year commencing April 1. Gandhi articulated in a Hindi post on X that “The finance ministry disclosed the government’s intent to procure over Rs 14 trillion in the present fiscal year. But why?”
Over the span of 67 years since independence until 2014, the nation’s collective debt amounted to Rs 55 trillion, the Congress secretary-general noted, highlighting that in the preceding decade, the Narendra Modi regime escalated it to Rs 205 trillion. Allegedly, the Modi administration has amassed approximately Rs 150 trillion in debt over the last decade, as per her assertions.
“At present, every denizen of the realm bears an average debt of roughly Rs 1.5 trillion. For what purpose was this capital deployed in nation-building?” Gandhi pondered on the microblogging platform. Were extensive employment opportunities generated or did they truly diminish, she probed further.
“Has the agricultural income experienced a twofold surge? Have educational institutions and medical facilities undergone refurbishment? Has the public sector been fortified or enfeebled? Have major industrial facilities and corporations been established?” Gandhi questioned. If not, if the vital segments of the economy are observed to be in disarray, if the labor pool has dwindled, if small and medium-sized enterprises have been obliterated, then where has this capital flowed, the Congress luminary inquired.
“Upon whom was it lavished? What portion was absolved? How much was disbursed in loan waivers for affluent magnates?” she pressed on. “Now, as the Central authority gears up to acquire further loans, the query arises: why is the BJP regime inundating the populace in debt, while the burden of unemployment, inflation, and economic turmoil has persistently surged over the past decade,” Gandhi asserted.
