Citing a report that says 73 per cent of all the wealth generated in 2017 went into the hands of only one per cent, Trinamool Congress (TMC) leader Sukhendu Shekhar Roy on Monday alleged that the Centre is promoting "crony capitalism".
"After three years of coming to power, this is the state of India...73 per cent of whatever wealth generated last year went in the hands of just one per cent (of the total population)," Roy said in the Rajya Sabha.
"This is not 'Sabka Saath, Sabka Vikas'. This is 'being with one per cent' and 'development of one per cent'," he said.
"This is capitalists' government, not a government of farmers, poor or labourers," he added.
Citing another report published by the "Centre for Monitoring Indian Economy", Roy pointed out that within four months of demonetisation, more than 15 lakh people became unemployed and termed the exercise another bluff by the government.
"The dream spun by the government is far from reality and public will not fall for it."
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Samajwadi Party leader Naresh Agrawal criticised the government for making "great statements" on stemming corruption and then giving "disappointments".
"BJP has made only great statements... The recent Budget publicity campaign hints at the kind of disappointments they have brought for everyone," Agrawal said.
In his Rajya Sabha speech, Agrawal said the present government had only succeeded in creating a situation through a "captive media" that claimed that only Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath were going to rescue the country and that the "rest others don't exist" he said.
Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) leader D.P. Tripathi also raised doubts over the government's promise to double farmers' income and quoted from the Economic Survey 2017-18, which reported that "income of farmers in the irrigated sector will decline by 15-18 per cent" and those in the "unirrigated sector by 20-25 per cent".
He said the growth boasted of by the government stood on "feet of clay" and that domestic investment -- according to the same Survey -- declined "30 per cent in 1999, 40 per cent in 2010 and 29 per cent now".
--IANS
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