'NDA stands for No Data Available': Tharoor rams Centre

New Delhi: Congress MP Shashi Tharoor went all guns blazing against the Narendra Modi-led NDA government in the Centre, slamming it at every possible aspect

Starting with the discussion on the Interim Budget 2025-25 by the Centre, Tharoor said that when the government claims to bring 25 crore people out of poverty in the last ten years, there is unprecedented unemployment in the country and few prospects for the young for a "brighter tomorrow". According to him, the youth received a double blow with a fall in the Labour Force Participation Rate and "shockingly high" unemployment, The Indian Express reported.

He came down on Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, who said that GDP stands for governance, development, and performance, saying that in the GDP, the G stands for government intrusion and tax terrorism, D for democratic betrayal, and P for poverty continuing.

He wondered, "kiska saath aur kiska vikas?" mocking the BJP governments slogan "Sabka Sath Sabka Vikas"

On Finance Minister Sitharaman's Rs 11,11,111 crore Capex allocation in the budget, Tharoor said that there is nothing scientific about the calculation but chose a lucky number for an economy that "needs all the luck it can get."

He further said that the country's actual GDP has ditched the trinity of demography, democracy, and diversity. The demographic dividend is at the end of a demographic disaster, he opined, because of the unemployment crisis, the K-shaped growth and the increasing gap between the rich and the poor.

Later, the Thiruvananthapuram MP stated that India's democracy is suffering under the Modi government's "arrogant contempt for institutions." Without minding the laws and parliamentary procedure, the government suspended 146 employees, he reminded.

A government "..requires a no-confidence motion to be moved before its leader willing to speak on vital issues, including Manipur. Should ideally refrain from claiming to be the messiah of democracy, let alone its mother," TIE quoted Tharoor.

Tharoor hammered that when the Modi government claims about success, desperate youths are queuing in Israel, risking their lives since they couldn't find decent work in India. Saying that NDA (National Democratic Alliance) stands for "No Data Available", Tharoor stated that the Centre has no data available to reveal the true situation of poverty in India as well as consumption. He added that the common man is sinking in debt, invoking a poem.

The Modi government betrayed the people of India through its economic mismanagement during the last ten years, and now the people are "staring at widespread distress hardship, no income and high unemployment, Tharoor pointed out. With the reckless decision of demonetisation, Indian economy became a "monumental disaster", where the poor and the middle class suffered, while "the wealthy friends of the government managed to exchange their currency," TIE quoted him.

According to Tharoor, when demonetisation was a bad policy which was implemented badly, GST was a good idea. However, GST was wrongly designed and "shabbily implemented, he said.