Modi government taxing hard working middle class instead of rich corporates: Chidambaram

Congress leader P Chidambaram on Thursday posed 12 questions to Modi government on the present state of economy, and said that Budget 2018 presented by Union finance minister Arun Jaitley has worsened the fiscal deficit.

During discussion on Union Budget 2018-19 in the Rajya Sabha, Chidambaram launched a scathing attack on the NDA government, saying that the Centre is taxing hardworking middle class instead of rich corporates.

He added that India remains the only country where the GDP has gone up and jobs have decreased. "Where have all the jobs gone? what is this mystery? I will tell you," said Chidambaram.

"In 2016-17, the Union Finance Minister announced a health cover of Rs 1 lakh for economically weak families. The scheme was not approved by the Cabinet and it was quietly buried. Two years later, the same minister came up with a new scheme with a Rs 5 lakh cover for 10 crore families...where will the money come from to fund this?" he said.

'This must be the only country in the world where GDP falls and employment increases...What kind of Jumla is this?', he mocked.

Earlier, Chidambaram had dubbed the NDA government as a "terrible patient" who is not paying heed to a good doctor like Chief Economic Advisor Arvind Subramanian.

"Arvind Subramanian has been a good doctor since his appointment as the CEA in October 2014. The NDA government has been a terrible patient," the former finance minister had tweeted.

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