CWC to constitute internal panels to look into poll performances
The party’s highest decision-making body has also decided to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the presidency of Mahatma Gandhi in 1924, in Belgaum in December.
In a fresh attack on the BJP-led government at the Centre, the Congress on Monday said that “widening gap” between the ultra-rich and the middle class under the ruling dispensation is more and more apparent.
“An analysis of the publicly available data on income tax returns for the period 2013-14 to 2021-22 confirms one of the essential themes of the Bharat Jodo Yatra (BJY)—that of increasing income inequalities. The widening gap between the ultra-rich and the middle class under the (Narendra) Modi government is more and more apparent,” Congress General Secretary in-charge of communications Jairam Ramesh wrote on X.
Ramesh, who is also the Congress’ MP in the Rajya Sabha while citing the data of the income tax returns, said: “The top 1 per cent of income tax payers made 17 per cent of all income in 2013-14. By 2021-22, the top 1 per cent made 23 per cent of all income.”
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Claiming the income growth of the ultra-rich was much faster than for the middle class, the MP said: “The top 1 per cent of income tax payers saw their income grow at 13 per cent year-on-year from 2013-14 to 2021-22 — a massive 60 per cent faster than the income of the lowest 25 per cent of taxpayers.”
He further said not only that, after adjusting for inflation, the lowest 25 per cent tax-payers actually took home “less” real income in 2022, than in 2019.
“Gross income of the lowest 25 per cent fell by 11 per cent, from Rs 3.8 lakh crore in FY19 to Rs 3.4 lakh crore in FY22. Meanwhile, the real income of the top 1 per cent jumped 30 per cent from Rs 7.9 lakh crore in FY19 to Rs 10.2 lakh crore in FY22,” Ramesh said.
Taking a swipe at Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the MP said, “Figures don’t lie. Only the Prime Minister does.”
The parliamentarian along with the post also shared a graphic of the same which read “widening gap between ultra-rich and middle-class.”
Notably, former Congress president and MP Rahul Gandhi had earlier attacked the ruling BJP over the matter during his BJY from Kanyakumari to Kashmir.
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