‘Indians pay taxes like England to get services like Somalia’: Raghav Chadha

New Delhi [India], July 25 (ANI): Stepping up attacks on the BJP-led NDA government for the Union Budget 2024-25, Aam Aadmi Party MP Raghav Chadha on Thursday said that citizens of the nation have to pay taxes like England to get facilities like Somalia.
He further said that the BJP managed to secure 240 seats, short of majority mark in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections because the public imposed 18 percent GST on them(BJP led NDA government).
While taking part in the debate over Union Budget, Chadha stated, "In 2019, the BJP had 303 seats in Lok Sabha, but in 2024, the public imposed 18 percent GST and gave them only 240 seats. There are various reasons stated behind their plight including the failure of Dharm and casteism card, and problems in ticket distribution, etc, but there are three main reasons - economy, economy, economy!"
Presenting an example, Chadha stated, "If a common man earns Rs 10, then he has to pay Rs 3 for income tax, Rs 2 - 2.50 goes into GST, Rs 2 goes into Capital Gain charges and Rs 1 -1.50 goes into some other charges, which means Rs 7-8 goes into the treasure of the government. What does the common man gain? What do they do from these taxes? Are they providing world-class infrastructure, health care, transport, or education services? We, in India, pay taxes like England to get services like Somalia."
He further alleged that the government has managed to displease all sections of society from the Budget 2024.
Taking a jibe at the government, Raghav Chadha said, "Whenever a budget is presented, generally some sections of society get happy and some are disappointed but this time they have achieved the demeanour to disappoint every section of society. They have managed to displease all sections of society. In fact, this time supporters of the BJP are also disappointed. In the last 10 years, the government has gouged the citizens of India by imposing heavy taxes."
Chadha said he would present his speech in two forms where he highlighted the facts of why the government lost badly in elections and in the second part he highlighted some suggestions to the government.
He further took a jibe at the BJP and said that they got 240 seats in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections because this time public imposed 18 percent GST on them.
Chadha stated, "In 2019, the BJP had 303 seats in Lok Sabha, but in 2024, the public imposed 18 percent GST and gave them only 240 seats. There are various reasons stated behind their plight including the failure of Dharm and casteism card, and problems in ticket distribution, etc, but there are three main reasons - economy, economy, economy!"
Highlighting the reasons behind the BJP's defeat, Chadha pointed out three factors including Rural Income and Inflation, Food Inflation and unemployment.
Chadha asserted, "The first reason for their defeat is Rural Income and Inflation, as 60 percent of the population of India resides in villages and rural income growth is on a decadal low. They had promised to double the income of farmers and MSP under the Swaminathan Commission but unfulfilment had led to a decline in rural income for the last consecutive 25 months. In the UPA regime, rural wage income had increased upto 7 percent but in the NDA regime, it was 3 percent in 2014 and -2.6 percent in 2019."
Speaking on the food inflation, Chadha said, "The second reason is food inflation. From atta to milk and curd, everything in this country is getting expensive. The food inflation stands at around 9 percent in the nation. I want to ask the government how the prices went up for the commodities that we used to export and why farmers are not getting benefits from it. Where is the money flowing?"
He further said that unemployment in the nation has risen and said, "Third reason is unemployment, there is unemployment everywhere, whether formal or informal sector or organised or unorganised sector. According to the report of CMI, the rate of unemployment in the unorganised sector is 9 percent while it is 9.2 percent for the organised sector. What they have done to the youth and human resources of the nation? (ANI)