Middle class is a victim of ‘tax terrorism’, give them relief: Arvind Kejriwal’s new poll pitch

In a video message, Kejriwal said, “Promises made during elections are often called political tactics to get votes. Some parties make promises in the name of caste, religion… some make promises for the underprivileged sections and some for the rich.”

“They make promises for these two classes as one is a note bank and the other is a vote bank. But there is another section that comes in the middle. They are neither here nor there. They are the middle class. No party in the country cares about them. They have remained an ATM for the government,” he added.

Stressing that “the relationship between this section and the government is very strange,” he said, “They just pay taxes, spending 50% of their money on it. The truth is that the middle class is a victim of ‘Indian tax terrorism’.”

Calling the middle-class India’s real superpower, Kejriwal said,  “Who are these people? (They are) bankers, lawyers, teachers… This section of society is troubled the most… They pay service tax, GST… These days, they have to pay tax on everything, even milk and popcorn. A middle-class couple even thinks about their financial situation before family planning. They make a budget before planning a baby.”

Kejriwal said youngsters are leaving the country because of high taxes. Citing data, he said over 2 lakh people have left the country. “They should be our country’s future, not someone else’s.”

“It is a big problem, but what is the solution? We have increased the budget for education and healthcare and provide free electricity (in Delhi). The middle class largely uses mohalla clinics, as we have seen. Yes, we use your tax money to provide facilities to the economically weaker sections, but those facilities also benefit you,” he underlined, adding, “I appeal to the Centre to think about our middle-class section and provide them relief in the upcoming Union Budget.”

The former Delhi CM also asserted that the AAP and its leaders will become the voice of the middle class until the Budget is presented and will continue to raise middle-class issues in Parliament.

In Delhi, the BJP holds sway among the middle class; AAP has a stronger presence among the lower middle class and the poor.
Hitting back at AAP, the seven BJP MPs in Delhi accused Kejriwal of misleading the people by posing populist demands before the Centre. MPs Kamaljeet Sehrawat and Praveen Khandelwal, in a joint statement, called Kejriwal “cunning” and “manipulative”.

“The middle class, especially traders, pays the maximum revenue to the Delhi government but  Kejriwal has not given anything to them in the last decade. Due to his misrule, traders are forced to buy electricity at the highest commercial tariff,” said Khandelwal.