Middle class unhappy with Modi govt on budget, warns Pai

Bengaluru, NT Bureau: Manipal Global Education (MGE) chairman Mohandas Pai said he viewed the Union Budget presented on Tuesday favourably but cautioned that he hadn’t seen the middle class of the country so unhappy with the Centre in the last 10 years.

Pai, a vocal supporter of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, said that he would still give the Budget a “9.5” on a scale of 1 to 10 but the middle class would give it 6 of 10.

He said middle class anger was due to heavy taxes and lack of communication between elected representatives and their constituents, adding that high-ranking bureaucrats in the Union Finance Ministry displayed “arrogance”.

He made the comments on ‘The Squirrels’ YouTube channel.

“If you see the attitude of those working in the Finance Ministry who came and gave TV interviews, it is patronizing. It’s looking down on people. Even the Finance Minister (Nirmala Sitharaman) is not being sympathetic to what people want. Now, what do the middle class want? Let me explain. The middle class is very angry and upset this time. I’ve never seen them so angry and upset in the last 10 years. They’ve always loved Prime Minister Modi. They liked the NDA (National Democratic Alliance).

“They voted (for them) but they’ve been suffering from high prices, which are not captured in the CPI (Consumer Price Index) and what is that? High school fees. Check the school fees and how much it has gone up in the last five years. High college fees as well. This is because government colleges don’t work and there is high reservation there. The EMI (Equated Monthly Installment) has also gone up,” Pai said.

“You still have to file a return when you’ve got Rs 3 lakh. Why not make it up to Rs 5 lakh? No tax and no returns. It removes a major headache for people,” he added.

‘B’luru pays taxes, gets nothing in return’

Pai also expressed disappointment with Bengaluru not receiving major allocations despite voters of the city sending a host of BJP lawmakers to the Assembly and the Lok Sabha.

He said that he wasn’t opposed to Bihar and Andhra Pradesh getting allocation since the states were ruled by saffron party allies but added other southern states should have gotten more, singling out the Chennai Metro project.

“Give something to the southern states, to their metros. Show that you care. Bangalorians are upset. We gave five MP seats to Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Among MLAs, we have given more seats to BJP,” he said.

“Our Metro is three years late. New Metro lines have to be approved,” he added, alleging the Congress government was ignoring Bengaluru. Pai also called upon Sitharaman to address Karnataka’s concerns as a Rajya Sabha MP from the state.