The Congress party today mocked the Union Budget presented by Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman and shared a meme to imply that the government’s claims were detached from reality. Featuring Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the Twitter post shared on the party’s official Twitter handle is titled “claim vs reality”. While the ‘claim’ slide shows the PM in a yoga pose pointing upwards, the ‘reality’ slide shows the opposite.
Sitharaman, in her fifth Budget presentation, made a slew of announcements, including an increase in the income tax rebate limit from Rs 5 lakh to Rs 7 lakh under the new regime.
The Finance Minister has also reduced the number of tax slabs in the new tax regime, and increased the tax exemption limit to Rs 3 lakh. She also announced that capital investment outlay has been increased by 33 per cent to Rs 10 lakh crore, which will account for 3.3 per cent of the GDP.
Meanwhile, Congress MP Congress MP Karti Chidambaram on Wednesday welcomed the move, saying that any tax cuts are “welcome”.
“I am a believer in a low tax regime. So, any tax cuts are welcome because giving more money into the hands of the people is the best way to boost the economy,” he told ANI.
Congress MP Gaurav Gogoi said that the income tax rebate announced up to Rs 7 lakhs was insignificant. “Considering the inflation and price rise, it’s like a drop in the ocean for middle class,” Gogoi was quoted as saying by ANI. He also said that the Budget only benefits “big industrialists”.
Congress MP KC Venugopal called the Union Budget a “total disaster” which provided no relief to the poor.
“Budget2023 is a total disaster, with no respite from unemployment & price rise. @RahulGandhi ji and our party’s vision is to provide a safety net for the poor and transform India’s production engine. This budget has no relief for the downtrodden, no roadmap for growth,” he said.
The Budget Session of Parliament commenced on Tuesday with the President’s address to a joint sitting of the Lok Sabha and the Rajya Sabha, which was followed by an address by Vice-President Jagdeep Dhankar.
