Transcription
For eight years, after plundering the stomachs of the poor, looting their labor, devastating the middle class, and destroying small businesses, causing nearly 1.8 million MSMEs and small-scale industries to shut down, the honorable Prime Minister, along with BJP ministers and leaders, are trumpeting, "Celebrate Diwali today!"
In 2017, "One Nation, One Tax" was launched with great fanfare. Today, they claim, "We have done reforms, we have brought in changes." When we say we have brought in reforms, doesn't it mean that until then, injustice was happening? That misuse was occurring? That wickedness was happening? If you are boasting about the law you brought in and then saying you have reformed it today, it means you are admitting that for these eight years, whom did you deceive? Whom did you wrong? Whom did you suppress? What do we call a reform? When we remove injustice and misuse in society and create a better situation, we call it a reform. For example, there was Sati. It was a wicked practice, an injustice. When a husband died, the wife was pushed into the funeral pyre. It was inhumane. Therefore, when there was a movement to ban it, the then British brought in a law and banned it. If that was a reform, you are calling the correction of the mistake you made in the law you brought in as a reform. What you have done is not a reform; it is an attempt to correct a mistake you made.
What kind of mistakes did you make? For example, today you said there is no tax on health insurance. But for these eight years, everyone paid taxes for health, didn't they? At least for medical treatment, they paid taxes, right? There are employees who pay income tax. For example, someone earning 1.5 million rupees, if they have to pay 30% tax, they have to pay over 400,000 rupees in tax. If 1.1 million rupees remain after paying tax, and this 1.1 million rupees is spent, whether buying salt, lentils, going to a coffee shop, or watching a movie, tax has to be paid on everything. This means taxes are being imposed at rates of approximately 5%, 12%, 18%, 28%, and up to 40% on these items. If, after paying tax, you are spending the remaining money, and then you have to pay so many types of taxes, it means that almost everyone who is employed is paying over 40% in the form of tax. This means that what remains of their hard work is not even 60%. Today, you have reduced the tax on milk by 5% from 12%. But in these eight years, how many children have been born? If the mother of every child born wants to give milk to her child, if she wants to give milk to her children, an item available for 50 rupees would cost 60 rupees with a 12% tax. If you buy half a liter of milk daily, it costs 10 rupees, which means for 30 days, it's 300 rupees, and for a year, it's 3600 rupees extra. If poor people have been paying over 3000 rupees annually for milk for every child born for the past eight years, what a burden that is! How much injustice has occurred to the poor in these eight years? You are correcting these mistakes today.
In reality, all political parties, opposition parties, have repeatedly cried out, "There is a mistake in this system, correct it, correct it!" Businessmen cried out, civil society organizations cried out, but you did nothing. You did not pay attention for so many years. But why are you paying attention today? Why are you asking us to celebrate Diwali today? It is because the BJP does nothing without political gain. They do not undertake any work without the opportunity to harvest it in the form of votes, just as harvested crops are gathered. Their journey, which began in 2014 when they came to power after elections, has proceeded by first using religion as a pawn and then showing Pakistan, thereby forming governments in North India with many votes. This continued by bringing up some issue for every election. For example, if there were elections in Uttar Pradesh, they would raise the Hijab issue in Karnataka, make it an issue, and try to win there. They thought they would win with a bumper majority if they built the Ram Mandir in Ayodhya, but the BJP lost the recent election in that very Ayodhya. So, on one hand, this religious pawn is no longer working. On the other hand, the influence of Modi is decreasing, as indicated by a recent Mood of the Nation survey. So, in this situation, what should they do? If they don't do something related to the people, or at least say something, it will not be possible to win elections again and again. Therefore, they announced, "We will give 33% reservation to women, and that too after five years." During the Delhi elections, where there are many daily wage laborers, middle-class people, and salaried individuals, they brought changes to income tax for the first time in 10 years. They introduced the provision that income up to 1.2 million rupees would be tax-free for the first time during the Delhi elections. Now, what are they doing? There are elections in Bihar, and then there are elections in some other states. Religion and Modi alone will not work; they have to do something. The issue that so many parties have been clamoring about for eight years, which they did not address, is today being brought in as changes in GST, and they are saying, "We have done reforms, celebrate!"
What you have done is wrong. What you have done for so many years is injustice. We appreciate you, as a liberation Congress party, a political party, for at least having the thought to correct the mistake and taking a step forward. But today, 1.8 million MSMEs, meaning small and micro industries, those who started new companies just yesterday or the day before, those who came forward to do small businesses – where did they come from? They came from the middle class, from poor families. They were crushed during the COVID period because there was no proper business, they couldn't pay taxes, and they shut down. So, how will you revive such people? How will you revive the youth who are running small businesses and startups? Will you provide them with additional capital investment, or how will you bring them back? Reforms need to be continued.
The Liberation Congress Party is speaking today for this reason: if the problems faced by the people are not brought to the government's attention, if they are not questioned on their behalf, injustice will occur. Just as injustice has occurred in these eight years, such injustices will continue. They brought black laws for farmers. When farmers from Haryana and Punjab were protesting, and other opposition parties supported them, those laws were repealed. It is because opposition parties, political parties, and social organizations have been continuously speaking that the issue of OBC caste census has been brought into the census today. It is because political parties and civil society organizations have been speaking that the corrections they are talking about in GST reforms have been brought in. Therefore, the Liberation Congress Party is fighting, speaking, and questioning on behalf of the people.
However, these corrections that have been made still need to be further improved. When making these corrections, the priority should be on the people. After that, business people, traders, sellers – especially not those like Adani and Ambani, but those who run small businesses and set up small industries – should be given priority, and further changes and corrections should be made to be business-friendly for them.
On the other hand, reforms such as the federal structure and devolution of funds, meaning giving autonomy to states and providing them with their share of funds according to their share, should also be brought in, and corrections should be made. Also, this GST law is very complicated and confusing. The GST laws need to be simplified. All GST forms need to be redesigned so that even small business owners can fill them out easily. Because without professional support, even those running small businesses cannot file GST returns. How much profit they get, how much tax they pay, and then how much engagement fee they pay to all those who assist them – how difficult all this is for those running small businesses. Therefore, reforms should be made so that returns can be filled and submitted simply by individuals. Also, laws should be reformed, and measures should be taken to revive small-scale industries.
Along with GST, on the non-GST side as well, for example, there are construction workers and daily wage laborers. For years, their wages have not been reviewed and linked to inflation. The government should also focus on linking these wages to inflation and increasing them from time to time. The Liberation Congress Party requests the central government to take up and continue these corrections for the middle class, the poor, daily wage earners, and laborers.