Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi on Monday created quite a flutter in the House stating that the Union Budget 2024-25 perpetuated a system that denied justice to 73 per cent of Indian society comprising Dalits, Adivasis and Backwards, and made no mention of a Caste Census, which could bring out their status.

Participating in the resumed discussion on the Budget, he said the whole country wants the Caste Census: “95 per cent of the country wants a Caste Census, Dalit, Adivasis, backwards want it; poor in the general category and the minorities want it; all of them want to know what is their share in the population and what are they getting.”

Mr Gandhi said his expectation was this Budget would favour farmers, youth, labour and small businesses, but this was nowhere evident. He said the Budget “Halwa” ceremony picture had no Dalits or backwards and this also proved the Budget’s sweetness was meant for just a few.

Mr Gandhi said the MSMEs which gave most of the jobs, the government’s policies attacked them first through demonetization, then with GST and tax calls. Small businesses get calls during the nights from income tax and GST and they are subjected to tax pressures, and nothing has been done to check this.

He said the policies initiated during the Covid period discriminated between the big business and small businesses and because of which none can get jobs in the country today. The Budget talks of an internship programme which appears to be a joke. This would apply to only 500 big companies which are not going to benefit 99 per cent of India’s youth. This is just like a band-aid for a serious injury.

Mr Gandhi said the main issue today is the exam leak, “wherever we go, we hear this.” There have been paper leaks 70 times in 10 years. There is no mention of this problem and the Budget has given the lowest allocation of 2.5 per cent for education.

“You have entrapped soldiers in the Agniveer chakravyuh; not a Rupee has been given for the Agniveers’ pension,” he said.

The farmers tried to come out of the systemic “chakravyuh” which was laid for them through the three “Black” laws, weakening the land acquisition law. They tried to save themselves and wanted a legally guaranteed MSP. The Budget does not give this, he said.

“We are going to break this chakravyuh of yours which is hurting crores of people and we will break it and this will be done by Caste Census. Just as I said the INDIA formation will get passed in this House as a legally guaranteed MSP, we will get the Caste Census passed in this House,” Mr Gandhi said.

The Congress leader said the middle classes had been hurt by indexation of property and capital gains tax for short and long terms. The government tries to trap different sections of the society through different traps and “we break them through schemes like MGNREGA.”

Mr Gandhi’s speech evoked continuous noises from the Treasury Benches, even as Speaker Om Birla tried to discipline both sides of the House. The Speaker told the Congress leader that he was now the leader of the Opposition and should function accordingly.

The Leader of the Opposition said the ruling coalition tried to lay a “chakravyuh” (trap) for different sections of the society, like the chakravyuh that was laid to trap and kill Arjun’s son Abhimanyu in epic Mahabharat. This time, he was, the system had trapped Arjun and he knows how to break it and save himself.

Mr Gandhi said when he had spoken on the Agniveer scheme earlier, the martyred Agniveer’s family had got just insurance money and no compensation, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh said he was ready to give a statement on the issue and discuss it.

Parliamentary Affairs Minister Kiren Rijiju said Mr Gandhi was not observing rules in his speech. The Leader of the Opposition said the Minister was speaking while he had not yielded to him, and if the Prime Minister or other Ministers yielded to the Opposition, the Opposition would yield and give time to Treasury Benches whenever they wanted to speak.

Mr Gandhi said the BJP’s chakravyuh comprised select sections of the society, while his party’s alliances represented Shiv’s Baraat (marriage party) that consisted people from lowliest professions and they would break the chakravyuh’s hold.