UPA pulled people out of poverty, Modi govt reversed it: Ajay Maken

Congress general secretary Ajay Maken on Wednesday claimed that while the UPA government pulled crores of people out of poverty, the present BJP-led regime has pushed them back in the Below Poverty Line (BPL) category. "

People are reeling under spiraling prices due to incompetent, insensitive and uncaring Narendra Modi government during a severe economic slowdown. Instead of providing cash directly in the hands of people, the BJP government is forcing them to pay higher prices for essential commodities," Maken said at a press conference in Bhopal.

"The Congress-led UPA government brought 27 crore people out of the BPL category with great efforts, but the present regime has pushed 23 crore of them back into poverty," he alleged. "Two crore people have lost their jobs and 97 per cent people are getting reduced salaries. People were forced to withdraw Rs 1.25 lakh crore from PPF accounts," Maken said.

The economy was already in a bad shape before the pandemic as the growth rate had come down to 4.1 per cent in FY20 from 8.2 per cent in FY17 due to demonetization, erroneous implementation of the Goods and Services Tax and wrong policies of the Modi government, he said.

The Congress leader also claimed that the prices of petrol and diesel were raised 66 times between April 1, 2021 and July 12, 2021, and the government earned a profit of "more than Rs 25 lakh crore" from excise duty in the last seven years. In seven years, excise duty on petrol was increased by 247 per cent and that on diesel by 794 per cent, he claimed.

Through these taxes, the Union government is pocketing about Rs 4.2 lakh crore per year, he further said. The increase in the prices of diesel, fertilizers and other agriculture-related products has raised the cost of farming too, the Congress leader alleged.