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Budget 2022: Rahul Gandhi has problem understanding Maths, says Piyush Goyal
Union minister Piyush Goyal said Congress leader Rahul Gandhi will look at everything with a sum of zero, while taking a dig at the latter’s “zer0 sum” budget comment.
Union commerce minister Piyush Goyal on Tuesday slammed Congress leader Rahul Gandhi for his ‘zer0 sum Budget’ comment and said one needs “intelligence” to understand the Union Budget, adding the latter also has a “problem in understanding Maths".
“He will look at everything with a sum of zero. I believe the finance minister (Nirmala Sitharaman) has shown a new way of developing the nation,” Goyal was quoted as saying by news agency ANI.
The Union minister further said the income tax burden on the middle class of India has “already been reduced quite a lot,” and that the Centre's efforts are always to “conserve resources, increase opportunities and income”.
Regarding digital notes, the commerce minister said, “Privately issued cryptocurrencies are not government-recognised legal tenders and will have a 30 per cent tax.”
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Earlier in the day, Gandhi took to Twitter to state the Union Budget does not have anything for the salaried people of India, the middle class, the poor and deprived, the farmers, youth and those engaged in the micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) sector. “Modi government's zer0 sum Budget,” he wrote in the post.
In her post-Budget press briefing, Sitharaman too slammed Gandhi for his comments and said that as the leader of the oldest political party, he should “understand” the Budget. She added that “criticism” is welcome, but she will not take on statements made just for the sake of posting on Twitter.
“I pity people who come up with quick responses…I only pity a party, which has a leader who just comments without thinking,” the finance minister said during the press conference.
Taking a dig at the Congress-ruled states of Punjab and Chhattisgarh, and the party's coalition government in Maharashtra, Sitharaman further asked Gandhi to first take up the problems faced by people of these regions and then engage in criticism.
“Is employment not a problem in Maharashtra? Even today, suicides are happening among cotton farmers of Punjab. What is Rahul Gandhi doing to stop these?” she said.
The finance minister said that almost “irresponsible comments” are coming as “criticism” following the presentation of the Budget.
In a press briefing, Congress veteran P Chidambaram said Sitharaman’s Budget presentation was the most “capitalist speech ever by an FM”.
