<b>Shekhar Gupta</b>: India's middle of nowhere class

Governments treat the middle class rudely and squeeze taxes out of it because it is the usual suspect - without lobbies or electoral power

Since Casablanca’s cult transcends generations, you could easily use one of its immortal lines to describe what the NDA government’s last Budget has done to India’s middle class: Round up the usual suspects, as good-for-nothing cop Captain Renault had said after an incident at “Rick’s Café americain”.

So anytime our government is short of money, because of profligacy or the political need to throw money for votes, it catches the hapless middle class, predominantly those in salaried employment. You can strangle them as much as you wish. They don’t have a voice, a constituency, and a common identity. Just grab their