Extracts of the Speech of Leader of Opposition (Lok Sabha) Shri Rahul Gandhi, in the Lok Sabha during discussion on Budget on July 29, 2024.

Shri Rahul Gandhi said- Thank you Speaker sir, for allowing me to speak on the budget 2024. In my last speech, I spoke about some religious concepts, Shiv Ji’s concept of Ahimsa, the fact that the Trishool is placed behind the back and is not held in the hand. I spoke about the snake around Shiv Ji’s neck and I also said, how all religions in our country propose the idea of non-violence and can be encapsulated in the phrase ‘Daro Mat, Darao Mat’, and I also said, that there is an idea beyond the personal, the idea of the Abhayamudra that transmits this notion of Ahimsa and affection and fearlessness to everybody else.

Speaker sir, as I said in my speech - there is an atmosphere of fear in India and that fear has pervaded every aspect of our country. My friends are smiling, but they are also scared. They are scared. Sir, you see, in the BJP only one man is allowed to dream to be Prime Minister. If the Defence Minister decides that he wants to be the Prime Minister, there is a big problem, there is fear. So, this fear has been spread throughout the country and the question I was asking myself was why is this fear spreading so deeply? Why is it that my friends in the BJP are terrified, the ministers are terrified, the farmers of India are terrified, workers, youngsters!

I thought a lot about this, so today I propose my answer. Speaker Sir, thousands of years ago in Kurukshetra of Haryana, Abhimanyu was killed by six people by trapping him in a Chakravyuh. Sir, there is fear and violence inside the Chakravyuh and Abhimanyu was killed by six people by trapping him in the Chakravyuh.

I did some research on Chakravyuh and found out that Chakravyuh has another name, Padmavyuh, meaning, Lotus Formation. Sir, in the 21st century, a new Chakravyuh has been prepared. Speaker Sir, that too is in the shape of a Lotus and the Prime Minister walks around wearing its symbol on his chest. Sir, what was done with Abhimanyu, Abhimanyu was trapped in a Chakravyuh, the same has been done with the India of today.

With the youth of India, with the farmers of India, with our mothers and sisters, with small businesses, with medium size businesses. Sir, Abhimanyu was killed by six people. Their names were Dronacharya, Karna, Kripacharya, Kritverma, Ashvatthama and Shakuni. Sir, even today there are six people at the very heart of the Chakravyuh. Sir, there are thousands of people at the pivot of the Chakravyuh, but six people control it at the very center. So just like six people controlled it at that time, similarly, even today only six people are controlling the Chakravyuh. The Chakravyuh is controlled by Narendra Modi ji, Amit Shah ji, Mohan Bhagwat ji, Ajit Doval ji, Ambani and Adani ji. Sir, if you want, I will remove the names of NSA, Adani and Ambani from this list. If you want, I will remove them. I will use only three names.

Speaker Sir, the Chakravyuh that has captured India, has three forces behind it. First is, the idea of monopoly, capital that two people should be allowed to own the entire Indian wealth. So, one element of the Chakravyuh is coming from the concentration of financial power. The second element is the Institutions, the agencies, CBI, ED, Income Tax Department of this nation and the third is the political executives.

Speaker sir, these three together are at the heart of the Chakravyuh and they have devastated this country. Speaker sir, my expectation was that this budget would weaken the power of this Chakravyuh, that this budget would help the farmers of this country, would help the youth of this county, would help the labourers, the small business of this country, but, what I have seen is, that this budget, the so aim of this budget is to strengthen this frame work, the frame work of big business, monopoly business, the frame work of a political monopoly that destroys the democratic structure and finally, the frame work of what one can call the deep state, or the agencies, and the result of this has been. What was the first thing this Chakravyuh did? The ones who provide employment to India are small and medium businesses, who used to provide employment to crores of youth. This Chakravyuh attacked them first. How did it do it? Through demonetization, GST and tax terrorism.

You people talk about terrorism. If any person runs a small business in the whole country, then at night he gets a phone call from the Income Tax Department, GST and tax terrorism is used. You have not done anything in this budget to stop this tax terrorism. So due to tax terrorism and your policies, you helped big businesses during Covid and destroyed small and medium businesses, due to that today the youth of India cannot get employment. Today a youth cannot get employment at all.

The Finance Minister is sitting here. What have you done for the youth? In the budget, you talked about internship programme and this is probably a joke because you said that internship programme will be only in the 500 biggest companies of India and 99 percent of our youth have nothing to do with this internship programme, they are not going to get any benefit. So first you broke the leg and now you are trying to fix it with a bandage. The main issue today is of the youth. The exam paper leak. Wherever we go, you have created a labyrinth of unemployment. Wherever we go, they say that look, there is unemployment but the paper is also leaked.

So, you have created a paper leak Chakravyuh on one side and unemployment Chakravyuh on the other. Paper leak has happened 70 times in ten years. Sir, the finance minister has not said a single word about paper leak in the budget. Paper leak is the most important issue for the youth. He has not mentioned paper leak even once and on the contrary, you have given the least amount of money in the education budget in 20 years. The allocation for education in the budget is only 2.5 percent.

Sir, on the other hand, you have trapped the army soldiers in the Agniveer Chakravyuh for the first time. There is not a single rupee for the pension of Agniveers in this budget. You call yourself a patriot, but when it comes to helping the Agniveers, giving money to the soldiers, you do not see a single rupee in your budget. You did not give a single rupee for their pension. You have trapped them in the Agniveer Chakravyuh.

After that, Sir, to trap the farmers in your Chakravyuh, you have brought three black laws today. You have weakened the Land Acquisition Bill. You do not give them the right price. To get out of this Chakravyuh, they have asked you for just one thing. They have said that give us a legally guaranteed MSP. You have stopped them at the border. The roads are closed till date. You are not ready to talk to them. They came here to meet me. You are not letting them in.

A delegation of farmers came to meet me. I was told that the delegation of farmers would not be allowed to enter. When I went out to meet them, they were allowed to enter. Sir, this is a fact. Now I don’t know if there was some miscommunication, that is a different matter altogether. When I went there with the media, the doors of the Parliament were opened for them but before that they were closed.

Speaker Sir, we wanted that our farmer is asking for only one thing from the government, legal guaranteed MSP. We thought that this is not a big task Sir. This is not such a big task. We thought that if the government had made a provision for this in the budget, in this budget, then our farmers who are trapped in the Chakravyuh, your Chakravyuh, would have been able to come out of it. This was our thinking. But you did not do it, so I guarantee here on behalf of INDIA Alliance, that we will get this work done. What you did not do in your budget, I want to tell all the farmers of India that we will pass the Guaranteed Legal MSP in this House and give it to you.

Sir, the middle class probably supported the Prime Minister before this budget. When the Prime Minister asked them to beat the thali during Covid, they did so with dedication. We found it strange, but when the Prime Minister gave the order to the middle class, the middle class followed.

After that, the Prime Minister asked the middle class to turn on their mobile phones and the middle class, the middle class in the whole of India, turned on the mobile phone lights. Now in this budget, you stabbed the same middle class twice. One stab here and one stab here. The indexation you cancelled was a stab in the back and the capital gain tax you increased was a stab in the chest. You increased the long-term capital gain tax from 10% to 12.5%, you stabbed here and you also stabbed them by increasing the short term from 15% to 20%. This is sad, but there is a hidden benefit in this for the INDIA Alliance. The middle class is now going to leave you and is coming to this side.

So, I am saying that wherever you get a chance, you create a Chakravyuh and we work to break it. In our budget, the farmer’s loan was waived off. We broke the Chakravyuh. MNREGA was implemented and that broke the Chakravyuh. So, we work to break the Chakravyuh, you work to create a Chakravyuh. You want India to live in small compartments and the poor people of India should not be able to dream but only Adani and Ambani.

Sir, will A-1, A-2 work Sir? Speaker Sir, these two people Sir, they control the infrastructure and business of India Sir. They have airports, telecom system, now ports, now they are going into railways. Sir, they have a monopoly on the wealth of India.

Speaker Sir, I understand, the minister has to protect Adani ji and Ambani ji, sorry A-1 and A-2, I understand, no problem. Sir, the order has come from above. I will not comment on this. Speaker Sir, about 73 percent of the population in the country is Dalit, Adivasi and backward class and they are the main power and strength of India and the truth is that they do not get a place anywhere. They do not get a place in business, they do not get a place in corporate India, they do not get a place in governments. Sir, look here Sir, I am showing you the photo, Sir. You have switched off the TV.

Sir, whenever I want to show it, I have to do this (showing the photo of the Finance Minister distributing halwa). What are you afraid of, Sir? You are afraid of Shivji’s photo. Sir, you are afraid of this photo.

Sir, I want to explain that photo. In this, the budget halwa is being distributed and in this photo, Sir, I do not see a single OBC officer, a tribal officer, a Dalit officer. What is happening, Sir? Sir, the country’s halwa is being distributed and there is not a single person out of 73 percent in it. Sir, you people are eating the halwa and the rest of the country is not getting the halwa.

20 officers prepared the budget, we have found out. Sir, 20 officers, I have their names, if you want the names, I will give them. 20 officers have prepared the budget of India, meaning 20 people have done the work of distributing the halwa of India. Now Speaker Sir, out of those 20 people, out of 90 percent people, there are only two - one minority and one OBC and not a single other is in this photo. Meaning you have kept them behind in the photo, you did not allow them to come in the photo, no one can come in the front and I wanted that the issue of ‘Caste Census’ should be raised in the budget, which the whole country wants. 95 percent of India wants ‘Caste Census’. Who wants it - Dalits want it, tribals want it, backward class wants it, poor general caste people want it, minorities want it, everyone wants it because everyone wants to find out what is our participation? What is our share?

Sir, the government keeps distributing halwa, keeps distributing it, keeps distributing it and who is distributing it - the same 2-3 percent people and who is getting it distributed - the same 2-3 percent people and the rest of India, 90 percent of India. It is amazing to see the Finance Minister smiling right now. This is not a matter to laugh at Madam, this is not that matter. This is ‘Caste Census’ that will change the country.

Sir, those who believe in Padmavyuh, that Chakravyuh is also called Padmavyuh. Sir, those who believe in Padmavyuh have a misunderstanding. They think that the youth of the country, the backward people of the country are Abhimanyu. The backward people of the country are not Abhimanyu, they are Arjuna who will break and throw away your Chakravyuh. INDIA Alliance took the first step. We blew away your Prime Minister’s confidence. It means that your Prime Minister is not able to come in the speech and I tell you in advance, he will never come in my speech.

Sir, those who have a lotus formation have not understood the nature of India. Violence, hatred is not the nature of India. Chakravyuh is not the nature of India. The nature of India is different. Now I want to tell you about the nature of India. Every religion has a formation against Chakravyuh, in every religion. Do you know what is the opposite of Chakravyuh in Hinduism? I will tell you Sir - It is the Shiva baraat, Sir, anyone can come to Shiva’s procession. Anyone from any religion can come to the procession, can dance, can sing, can dream his own dreams.

Sir, if we talk about Guru Nanak Ji and Sikhs, no one can be stopped from serving, no one can be thrown out of the langar. Sir, in Islam anyone can come to the mosque, anyone can enter the church, anyone can come to the Sangha Sir, but in their Chakravyuh there are only six people Sir. So, this fight is between Shiva’s procession and Chakravyuh. We break the Chakravyuh. We work to break the Chakra. MNREGA, Green Revolution, Independence, Constitution, these are the works to break the Chakravyuh. This brings happiness in the country, fear gets vanished, confidence prevails. You work to create Padmavyuh, Chakravyuh. Chakravyuh cannot defeat Shiva’s procession. Look at your history, you call yourself a Hindu! You do not understand Hinduism. You are the people who create the Chakravyuh.

Sir, you have created these small chakravyuhs and I try to explain them in my own little way. A few months ago, I worked with carpenters for six-seven hours. Vishwakarma ji was there, I asked him a question. I asked him what hurts you or what causes you pain? He told me- Rahul... listen to me, you will understand, justu listen to me.

Sir, I asked Vishwakarma ji that you have been working as a carpenter here for years, if you look for it in the whole country, you will find it, search for it. You will not find it in your house, you will find it in the whole country. So, I asked him- Vishwakarma ji, what pains you, what hurts you? So, he said- Rahul ji, I am making this table, but I feel sad that I make this table, but I cannot enter the showroom in which this table is kept.

Just a few days ago, on the way to Sultanpur, I was sitting with a brother, a cobbler brother and I asked him this question- what makes you sad? He said- Rahul Ji, only my father respected me and no one else.

So, my point is - Sir, this Chakravyuh that you have created, this Chakravyuh is causing harm to crores of people, is causing pain and we are going to break this Chakravyuh and the biggest way to break it, which you people are afraid of, tremble with, is ‘Caste Census’ and as I said that INDIA Alliance will pass the guaranteed legal MSP in this house. Similarly, I am saying, whether you like it or not, we will pass the ‘Caste Census’ in this house and show it to you. Sir, these small chakravyuhs that you have created, this system that you have created, the system of Chakravyuh, it will get broken through ‘Caste Census’ and for this, we and INDIA Alliance will do this work with full force. Thank you! Jai Hind!