New Delhi, July 29 (UNI) The Leader of the Opposition in Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi on Monday charged the Narendra Modi government with trapping the country in a ‘Padmavyuh’ – like the ‘Chakravyuh’ of Mahabharat – and promised that the INDIA alliance would restore the people’s rights.
Launching a blistering attack on the Centre’s ruling BJP-led NDA while participating in the discussion on the Union Budget 2024-25, Gandhi said: “Like the Chakravyuh of Mahabharat that killed Abhimanyu, another name of Chakravyuh is Padmavyuh, which is in the shape of a lotus flower”.
Incidentally, the lotus is the election symbol of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).
“This Chakravyuh has been prepared in the 21st century. What happened with Abhimanyu is being done with India…. the youth, farmers, women, and small and medium businesses”, said the Congress leader during his hour-long speech.
He said, “The Chakravyuh that has captured India has three forces behind it. First is the idea of monopoly capital; second is the institutions, agencies such as CBI, ED and the Income Tax department of this nation; the third is the political executive, These three together are at the heart of the Chakravyuh, and they have devastated this country”.
The former Congress President said he had expected the budget to weaken the power of this Chakravyuh and help the farmers, the youth, labourers, and small businesses.
“But what I have seen is that the sole aim of this budget is to strengthen this framework of big businesses, monopoly, the framework of political monopoly that destroys the democratic structure and finally the framework of the deep state or the agencies,” he said, amid frequent interruptions from the treasury benches.
The Raebareli MP dismissed the internship programme mentioned in the Budget as a joke, and said 90 percent of the youth would be left out, with the internships slated to take place only in the top 500 companies.
“This programme is like first you break their legs and then apply a bandage on it. The truth is that you have created a maze of unemployment and paper leak. Paper leak is the biggest issue for the
youth today, but the Finance Minister did not mention a single word on it in the budget. On the contrary, you have reduced the budget for education,” Gandhi alleged.
He also alleged that the government had trapped the brave soldiers of the Army in this ‘Chakravyuh’ by bringing in the Agnipath scheme.
The house witnessed a ruckus after Gandhi mentioned some names, which were objected to by Speaker Om Birla who stated that the Congress deputy leader had himself written to him saying that those not present in the House should not be named.
Parliamentary Affairs Minister Kiren Rijiju while intervening during the speech, alleged the LoP was not following the rules an decorum of the House.
“The Leader of Opposition is downgrading the image of the House. You challenge the Speaker. You don’t follow rules. The House functions as per the rules,” Rijiju said.
Defence Minister Rajnath Singh while responding to the issue on Agnipath scheme said, “Security is a sensitive issue. But some misconception is being spread about Agnipath scheme. I will give a statement in the House, whenever the Chair will order and I will say everything about the scheme in detail”.
