New Delhi: The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) questioned Wednesday Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman’s claim about doubling of per capita income since 2014. The AAP said it is ‘Amrit Kaal’ for Prime Minister Narendra Modi, not for the common people of India.
Highlighting the achievements of the Modi dispensation so far, the Finance Minister in her Budget speech said the government’s efforts since 2014 have ensured for all citizens a better quality of living and a life of dignity. The per capita income has more than doubled to Rs 1.97 lakh, Nirmala Sitharaman said.
“Neither did the MSP of crops increase nor did the youth get employment. But this is ‘Amrit Kaal’ for Modi ji. Nirmala ji is saying per capita income has doubled,” AAP’s Rajya Sabha MP Sanjay Singh, who is also the party’s national spokesperson, said in a series of tweets in Hindi, wondering ‘whose income’ doubled.
The AAP leader said the Union Budget for 2023-24, presented by the Finance Minister in Parliament, does not have any provision for the country’s farmers, soldiers and youth.
“No provision for anyone in the budget. Common people are longing for Amrit (nectar) in the Amrit Kaal,” Singh said.
Latching on to the Finance Minister’s proposal that 50 additional airports will be revived, the AAP MP took a swipe at Prime Minister Narendra Modi. “Modi ji will build 50 new airports. Who will get them?” Singh said in a tweet.
AAP’s Rajya Sabha MP Raghav Chadha termed the budget ‘most lacklustre’ and said it is bereft of ‘any effort or serious application of mind’.
“It sounded like a Budget presented by a minority government with its hands tied rather than a government with a brute majority,” Chadha said. The Modi government is focused more on ‘retaining power than wielding it for the common good’, Chadha alleged.