New Delhi: Demanding a debate on what falls in the category of freebies, AAP leader Raghav Chadha on Monday attacked the BJP in Rajya Sabha for deriding as 'revadi' the assistance provided to people by his party and wondered how the subsidies given by the Centre are any different.
The freebies issue has been raised by the Bharatiya Janta Party to attack the Aam Adami Party (AAP), especially during the recently concluded assembly elections in Gujarat and Himachal Pradesh and also the Municipal Corporation of Delhi polls. BJP leaders including the prime minister had cautioned voters against free power and water promised by AAP during the elections, claiming such "revadis" (freebies) are detrimental to progress in the long run.
Participating in the debate on the appropriation bills, Chadha said, "Government wants the demand of grants of Rs 3,25,757 crore. About one lakh crore rupees are for one subsidy, Rs 80,000 crore is for the second subsidy and Rs 45,000 crore for the third subsidy and so on. "They have asked for money under the heads of subsidy. This is not a demand for grants. This is a demand for subsidy."
He pointed out that when the AAP government gives free electricity, water, education and health services to people, "they (BJP) term it revadis". "Their subsidy is subsidy and our subsidy is revadi. This is not done. If they do it (give subsidy) then it is 'punya' (good dead) and when we do it then it is 'paap' (sin)," he said.
He demanded a debate to ascertain what falls in the definition of subsidy and freebies. "I want that there should be a debate on what is free revadi (freebies) in this country and what does not constitute revadi," he said. He pointed out that all members of parliament get 34 free air trips and 50,000 units of electricity per annum, but "if Arvind Kejriwal's government gives 400 units of electricity and 20,000 litres of water to people, they are in pain". He told the House that 40 developed nations in the world provide free electricity, water and education.
"They don't give that (subsidy) because they can, rather they invested in the human resources and became developed," he said. He also took a jibe on the provision in demand of grants for the purchase of land and building office premises for the Enforcement Directorate (ED) for Rs 30 crore, saying there should be an ED office in all localities.
Chadha also pointed to the falling value of the Rupee against the US Dollar, saying that it should have resulted in a rise in exports but they have fallen. He said that the government had reduced corporate tax on the pretext that investment will come, but it has not happened. He said that investment will come only when demand will be created and mere concessions to boost production will not help.
He also stated that the Centre borrowed Rs 55 lakh crore till 2014 since independence, whereas this government has borrowed Rs 85 lakh crore during the last nine years (since 2014). He pointed towards the fall in economic growth to 6.3 per cent in the second quarter of this fiscal from 13.5 per cent in April-June 2022. He also highlighted the issue of farmer suicides, claiming every farmer has a debt of Rs 74,000 crore on average.
Participating in the debate, BJD leader Prashanta Nanda demanded that Odisha should be given special category status due to the natural calamities like cyclones faced by it. YSRCP's V Vijayasai Reddy and JD (U) member Aneel Prasad Hegde also participated in the debate. (PTI)
