A day after Prime Minister Narendra Modi alleged that Congress leader Rahul Gandhi had stopped “abusing” industrialists Mukesh Ambani and Gautam Adani and hinted at a deal, the Congress party stepped up its counter-attack on the BJP and Mr. Modi over the issue of crony capitalism.
In a fresh video addressing the youth, Mr. Gandhi said Mr. Modi would resort to “drama and distraction” in the next four to five days since he knows that he won’t be Prime Minister again and the election is slipping out of his hands.
“Unemployment is the biggest issue and Narendra Modi ji had promised you [the youth] two crores jobs every year. He lied, instead announced demonestisation and implemented a flawed GST but did everything for the benefit of people like Adani,” Mr. Gandhi said in his video.
“On June 4, INDIA bloc will form the government and by August 15, the process of giving employment to 30 lakh youth will start under bharti bharosa [job assurance] scheme,” he added.
In a separate statement, Congress leader Jairam Ramesh accused the Modi government of aiding “drain of wealth” from ordinary Indians to crony corporates.
The Congress leader said 150 years ago, Dadabhai Naoroji’s “Drain Theory” explained how the wealth of India’s people was being taken away and sent to England. “Since 2014, we have seen a similar ‘drain of wealth’ from Bharat ke Parivaar (India’s families) to Modi ka Parivaar (Modi’s family). This is the intentional effect of the prime minister’s ‘Hum Do Humaare Do’ policy of favouring his cronies. With each passing day of Modi’s Anyay Kaal, this ‘Drain of Wealth’ breaks a shameful new record. The National Accounts Statistics released on 7 May, 2024 show that India’s net household savings have decreased by Rs. 9 lakh crore in three years,” Mr. Ramesh claimed.
He noted that loans to households have increased from ₹7 lakh crore to ₹14 lakh crore in last three years and in September 2023, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) bulletin showed India’s net financial savings at just 5.1% of the GDP.
“In a real sense, the BJP government is responsible for ripping away mangalsutras, as its economic failures have pushed gold loans to a record high. Outstanding gold loans have crossed Rs. 1 lakh crore for the first time in India’s history, as per RBI data. Any growth that has happened since 2014, has been only for the crony industrialist friends of the Prime Minister: Today, 21 billionaires have more wealth than the poorest 70 crore Indians combined,” the Congress leader alleged.
In a separate X post, former Finance Minister Congress leader P. Chidambaram said the Congress manifesto on economy has promised to support the private sector and every kind of enterprise -- large, medium, small and micro. “Regulatory oversight will be based on clearly enunciated laws and rules that will be applied fairly and without discrimination. We will ensure a level playing field for all. We are opposed to monopolies and oligopolies and crony capitalism,” Mr. Chidambaram said.
