The Congress on Wednesday accused the BJP government of indulging in “fiscal fascism” in place of co-operative federalism.
Party spokesperson Abhishek Singhvi said the Centre is holding ‘Team India’ to ransom by handing out electoral lollipops.
‘Unkept promises’
He said the Centre increased to ₹4.4 lakh crore, the non-divisible on food and cess surcharge in the Budget. “Second, it did not increase the divisible pool from the promise of 27 per cent to 42 per cent. They increased it only to 32 per cent. And third, it has suppressed all data on nutrition and jobs,” he alleged. Singhvi said terms such as ‘Team India’ and ‘Cooperative Federalism’ formed the base of BJP’s 2014 campaign and five years down the line, the ruling party has completely eroded federal autonomy and independence of States.
“Time and again, Modi government boasted that it is implementing the 14th Finance Commission, which increased the devolution of funds from 32 per cent to 42 per cent. But this has turned out to be a ‘Maha Jumla!’ In the 2014 Manifesto, the BJP also promised to “ensure fiscal autonomy of States,” but that has been thrown into the dustbin,” he said.
On abandoning schemes
He said the so-called ‘increased devolution’ of the BJP, turned out that to be a cruel joke as the Centre abandoned schemes and burdened the States.
“It cut the number of centrally sponsored schemes (CSS) from 70 to just 27 and the contribution in many CSS from 75 per cent to 50 per cent. This effectively means States are getting less, as their share of tax revenue and a pittance for the share of (CSS),” he claimed.
“To add insult to injury, the Modi government, which has exclusive usage of revenue collected from cess and surcharges is sitting on a bounty of ₹3,04,000 crore (2018-19), while States are reeling under the fiscal pressure of funding their own schemes, as well as those abandoned by the Centre,” he added.