Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal on Thursday take a jibe at Prime Minister Narendra Modi for putting GST on vital food items and announced that taxpayers are duped when their tax money is used to put off loans of “rich friends” of PM.
Expressing his views in an online briefing, Kejriwal announced, “The taxpayers think that the government took the tax from me on the vow of giving me facilities, instead they are using my tax money on waiving off their rich friends’ loans.”
“Never in the past 75 years has the regime taxed basic food grains. Tax over petrol and diesel is over ₹1000 crore. They are presently announcing all free things by the government should end. Fees should be charged in government schools and hospitals. They are telling free rations to be halted,” Kejriwal said in his address.
Kejriwal also questioned where did all money go? “They are forgiving loans of their friends with this government money. They waived taxes worth ₹5 lakh crore of super rich people,” he questioned.
Talking over the Centre’s Agnipath scheme, the Delhi chief minister quoted, “It is for the first time in the country’s history that the administration is justifying their Agnipath Yojna. It told it is being done so the government does not have to pay pensions to defence persons anymore.”
His response came after Modi’s statement on freebies. Modi had told, “Freebies will restrict India from becoming self-reliant and increase the burden on taxpayers.”
Earlier on Wednesday, in his address during the inauguration of the 2G ethanol plant, the Prime Minister also piped up against the culture of freebies.