The Narendra Modi-led government spent nearly Rs 91 lakh crore on social sector programmes and infrastructure development over the last eight years, Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman tweeted citing a Reserve Bank of India (RBI) report.
Her tweet is the latest battle on micro-blogging site where she rebutted Congress leader and former finance minister P Chidambaram's claims where he accused the government of burdening the comman man with huge fuel tax.
In a series of tweets she said, "RBI data shows total developmental expenditure incurred by Modi Govt in 2014-22 was Rs 90.9 lakh cr, far higher than is being alleged by some sections of the Opposition. In contrast, only Rs 49.2 lakh crore was spent on this during 2004-14".
Chidambaram had claimed that the government collected ‘humongous amounts’ by taxing the poor and the middle class and used the money to provide ‘additional welfare’ to them.
The finance minister pointed out "The developmental expenditure incurred by the Modi Govt of Rs 90.9 lakh cr so far is over and above the Rs 93,685.68 crore already spent between 2014-22 on repaying the UPA-era oil bonds. Further, an additional Rs 1.48 lakh crore will be paid by 2026."
"The expenditure incurred by the Modi Govt includes Rs 24.85 lakh crore spent so far on food, fuel and fertiliser subsidies and Rs 26.3 lakh crore on capital creation. Over the 10 years of UPA, only Rs 13.9 lakh crore was spent on subsidies," she added.
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