‘Patchwork’: Tharoor leads attack on finance bill

The people of India deserved decisive action and forward-thinking policies, yet their aspirations have been set aside, senior Congress lawmaker Shashi Tharoor said on Monday, as he criticised the Finance Bill, dubbing it a “classic case of patchwork” solutions.

Initiating the debate on the Finance Bill in the Lok Sabha, — his first major intervention on behalf of the Congress since December last year — Tharoor alleged that the BJP-led NDA government’s economic management is facing structural challenges.

“The finance minister’s budget speech in this house reminded me of the garage mechanic who said ‘I couldn’t fix your brakes, so I made the horn louder’ but looking at the Finance Bill, she is now saying to taxpayers, I couldn’t repair the roof but I brought you an umbrella,” the Thiruvananthapuram MP said.

Tharoor, who recently supported the Modi government’s foreign policy which ruffled many feathers in his party, however, launched a scathing attack on the Union government’s economic policy.

“This Finance Bill is a classic case of patchwork solutions. At a time when the nation needs clarity, conviction and decisive leadership, the government’s economic management finds itself in the grasp of deep-rooted structural challenges,” he said. “We are left with a Finance Bill devoid of vision and lacking in resolve. The people of India deserved decisive action and forward-thinking policies, yet their aspirations have been set aside.”

Tharoor, who is also a renowned author, also read out a poem on taxes even as Union finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman watched on. “…And if we ask you to try and fix it, you point and say ‘you will be Viksit!’ Yet still we pay with a patriotic heart, hoping our cash will play a small part. In building a future, bright and fair, for the nation we love, beyond compare!”

The Congress MP further said that people have seen growth targets being scaled down, double-digit growth is apparently unattainable, and the ambitions of maintaining a respectable growth rate of even 6% and above are fading away.

He pointed out that the portion of the population engaged in agriculture is higher than ever while manufacturing has shrunk to around 15 % of GDP—the lowest in the century.

Taking part in the debate on Finance Bill, which is the last part of the Budget process in Parliament, Trinamool Congress MP Mahua Moitra accused the government of favouring crony capitalists at the expense of small businesses and workers, claiming the Centre’s tax policies are designed to benefit select corporate interests.

She further alleged that the government has created special rules to benefit certain businessmen while neglecting the needs of the broader economy.

BJP lawmaker Nishikant Dubey, who also took part in the debate, alleged that the Supreme Court in India tended to intervene in matters where it shouldn’t and cited adjudication in cryptocurrency and online gaming and betting.

“When Shaktikanta Das was the RBI governor, he repeatedly stated that cryptocurrency is not a legal tender. However, in India, even the Supreme Court tends to intervene in matters where it shouldn’t. As a result, cryptocurrency exchanges continue to operate, and transactions keep happening,” Dubey said.

He added the second issue is with online gaming and online betting. “There is no village or city where youngsters have not been driven to suicide due to these platforms or where parents’ hard-earned money is not being drained into betting.”

Dubey also took a dig at the TMC while speaking about 28% tax on online gambling.

“Of course, you will say this because a prominent person from your side — whether from St Diego or St Martin, whatever the name is — has made donations. He donated to Mamata Banerjee’s government in Bengal and also contributed to you through electoral bonds,” Dubey alleged, referring to now-scrapped electoral bonds.