"Modi's Billionaire Raj more unequal than British Raj": Congress slams Centre over income inequality report
Congress attacked the government on Wednesday regarding a report that highlights income and wealth disparities in India spanning a century. Party general secretary for communications, Jairam Ramesh, stated that the report titled «Income and Wealth Inequality in India, 1922-2023: The Rise of the Billionaire Raj,» authored by renowned economists such as Thomas Piketty raises significant concerns. Ramesh claimed that under Prime Minister Narendra Modi's leadership, the wealth gap in India has surpassed that of the British colonial era, dubbing it "Narendra Modi's Billionaire Raj."
«The bottom line is this: Narendra Modi's Billionaire Raj, nurtured by the Prime Minister to favour his friends and fund his party's campaigns, is now more unequal than even the British Raj,» he alleged.
Ramesh said the share of national income earned by India's top 1 per cent is now at its highest historical levels and is among the highest globally.
The rise of top-end inequality has been particularly pronounced between 2014 and 2023, which corresponds to the 'dus saal anyay kaal' and the Modi government's policies have directly caused this perverse growth through three methods — enrich the rich, impoverish the poor and hide the data, he said.
«The Modi Sarkar's economic policies have focused on creating billionaire wealth. Most government contracts are handed out to a chosen few corporates, even as public assets are being sold to the same corporates at record discounts,» he alleged.
«Now we also know that many of these companies have
