Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi attacked the Union Budget Monday, comparing it to the “Chakravyuh of the Mahabharat war where Abhimanyu was trapped and killed”. He said the Union Budget had nothing for farmers, youths, middle class and Agniveers, and promised that INDIA bloc will break “government's Chakravyuh” and ensure MSP legal guarantee, caste census. Displaying a photo of the halwa ceremony that precedes the printing of the Budget, Gandhi said there was no Dalit, adivasi or backward class person in the photo. Speaker Om Birla objected to the photograph saying the LoP must follow the rules. “Poster nahi aane dunga (Won't allow poster display). This is wrong,” said Birla. Continuing with his speech, Gandhi said, “The country’s halwa is being distributed and no one from the 73 per cent (Dalit, Adivasi and Backward Classes) is there… A total of 20 officers have prepared the Budget and out of them there are just two from the country’s 90 per cent population – one minority and one OBC. And in this photo, they too are not there,” he said. He said “there should be talk of caste census in the Budget”. “The halwa is distributed by the 2-3 per cent to the 2-3 per cent of the people.” While listening to his speech, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman was seen gesturing with her hands covering her face, a reaction that did not go down well with Gandhi. Later in the evening, he posted a photo of her reaction on X and wrote: “Today, when I raised the issue of caste census, the Finance Minister laughed at the serious issue and ridiculed it. Such a negligent response to the most important issue related to the lives of 90% of the country's population has exposed the mentality and intentions of the BJP.” In his Lok Sabha speech, Gandhi repeatedly referred to Mahabharat's Chakravyuh, a multi-layered military formation aimed at trapping a warrior by opponents placed strategically, saying it had been laid out to entrap different sections of the population. Signalling to the Treasury Benches, he said in the BJP only one man was allowed to dream of becoming the Prime Minister. “My friends in BJP are terrified, the farmers, workers, youngsters are terrified. Thousands of years ago in Haryana’s Kurukshetra, a youth Abhimanyu was killed by six people in a Chakravyuh. There is fear, violence in Chakravyuh. I researched about the Chakravyuh and found out that it has another name ‘Padmavyuha' meaning lotus formation. The Chakravyuh is in the shape of a lotus. In the 21st century, a new Chakravyuh has been laid and it is also in the shape of a lotus. The PM wears its picture on his chest. What happened with Abhimanyu in the Chakravyuh is being done with India – its youths, farmers, mothers, sisters, small and medium businesses.” As Gandhi read out the six names, including Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Home Minister Amit Shah, who he said controlled the Chakravyuh, the Speaker intervened. “You are on a constitutional post. I have been given in writing by your members that non-members will not be named in the House… I expect that the LoP follows the rules and traditions of the House.” Later, four of the six names were expunged from the House records. He then said the ‘chakravyuh’ that had captured India had three forces behind it. “The first is the idea of monopoly capital – that two people should be allowed to own the entire Indian wealth. The second is the institutions, agencies – CBI, ED and I-T Department – and the third is the political executive. These three together are at the heart of the Chakravyuh and they have devastated this country,” he said. “What I have seen is that the sole aim of this Budget is to strengthen this framework of big business, monopoly business, framework of a political monopoly that destroys the democratic structure and finally the framework of what one can call the deep state or the agencies. .The first thing done by the Chakrvyuh was that those who give employment to the country – small and medium business – were attacked. How? Through note ban, GST and tax terrorism.” Gandhi said the budget said nothing about paper leaks. “There have been 70 (paper leaks) in the last 10 years, at a time when the youths were trapped in the Chakravyuh of unemployment. “When you should have spent on education, you have given the least amount in 20 years at 2.5 per cent of the Budget,” he said. The Congress leader asserted that there was not a single rupee for pension to Agniveers in the Budget. “You call yourself a deshbhakt, but when it comes to helping jawans, there is not a single rupee for the Agniveers. You have trapped them in the Agniveer Chakravyuh.” Talking of farmers, the LoP said the government enacted three “black laws”, weakened the land acquisition Bill, and didn't give them the right price for their produce. “To get out of the chakravyuh, they have asked for one thing – to get legal guarantee for MSP. You stopped them at the borders. didn’t allow them to enter (Parliament) when they came to meet me,” he said, to which the Speaker asked him to not state “untruth” in the House resulting in an uproar from the Opposition benches. Rahul said farmers were initially not allowed to come inside Parliament, and that he had to go out to bring them in. He said the “INDIA bloc would pass the legal MSP guarantee in the House” when it comes to power. Gandhi said the middle class used to support the Prime Minister till this Budget but “they were stabbed”. “The cancellation of indexation was a stab in the back, and the increase in capital gains tax was a stab in the chest,” he said. “There is a hidden benefit that the middle class is leaving you and coming to the INDIA side,” he said. “You create Chakravyuh and we break it,” he said, recalling farm loan waivers and MNREGA legislated by the UPA government. The Speaker reminded Gandhi at least five times that he should “remember that he is the LoP”, but the Congress leader remained unfazed. When Parliamentary Affairs Minister Kiren Rijiju tried to intervene, Gandhi repeatedly said, “I am not yielding.” Rijiju said: “You have no knowledge about parliamentary proceedings. You have no knowledge about rules. You are challenging the Speaker. You are lowering the dignity of the House.” Gandhi retorted that the minister was trying to protect a few “industrialists” whom he had referred to in his speech. This prompted Rijiju to explain that he was “just talking about the system” and that “there is a rule that he has to yield when the Parliamentary Affairs Minister wants to say something”. Gandhi insisted, “There is no rule like that.” When senior BJP leader Ravi Shankar Prasad accused Gandhi of “insulting Hindus”, he retorted. “No, I do not do that. I cannot do that till I die.” Gandhi said that fight is between “Shiv ki baarat”, where anyone can come, and the “chakravyuh” where only six persons can enter. He said that the biggest tool to break the Chakravyuh would be the caste census. “We will show you by passing the caste census,” he said. After Gandhi’s speech, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh said people are being misguided on the Agniveer scheme, a sensitive issue pertaining to the Army. “When you order, I am ready to give a statement on Agniveers,” said Singh. Rahul responded, “Earlier too, the Defence Minister had said that compensation was given to Agniveer martyrs. That Rs 1-crore was given to the martyred soldier. It was not compensation but insurance payment.” Criticising the LoP's conduct in the House, Union Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw said, “It is sad that Rahul Gandhi is behaving like this despite being the LOP. The kind of language he is using in the House, the way he is questioning the Speaker, weakening the constitution and democracy. He has a history — he tore his own government's Ordinance in public. He seems to have no intention to respect the restraints the Constitution prescribes.”
