Shimla (Himachal Pradesh) [India], September 27 : Himachal Pradesh BJP president Rajiv Bindal on Saturday accused the Congress government of imposing repeated financial burdens on the public while lauding Prime Minister Narendra Modi for providing relief and implementing reforms at the national level.
Addressing a press conference in Shimla, Bindal said, "On one hand, Prime Minister Narendra Modi's government is working to give relief to the public, and on the other, Chief Minister Sukhvinder Singh's Congress government has been harassing people for the past three years."
He alleged that the Congress regime has imposed as many as ten types of cess. "Now, when an electricity bill is issued, there are so many cesses that even the printed space is falling short," he remarked.
The BJP leader listed the additional financial burdens introduced by the Congress government, including a Rs 7.50 VAT hike on diesel adding a burden of Rs 10,000 crore, an increase in cement tax from Rs 7.50 to Rs 16, steep hikes in water bills, higher stamp duty, a Rs 100 monthly charge for rural households' water supply, a 46 per cent increase in electricity tariffs, and a Rs 10 fee on hospital slips.
He said that the Modi government had reformed GST and provided relief worth Rs 2 lakh crore to citizens. "Aatmanirbhar Bharat and Swadeshi are not just slogans but a mantra of Prime Minister Modi. In Indian history, great leaders like Swami Vivekananda, Mahatma Gandhi, Deendayal Upadhyaya and Narendra Modi have taken Swadeshi from the national to the international stage, and today we are witnessing its grand form," Bindal said.
Comparing the Congress era with the present, he pointed out that India had only 1,000 startups in 2014, while today there are 1.6 lakh. "Each startup gives employment to about 40 people," he noted.
He added that 98 per cent of mobile phones earlier came from imports, but now 98 per cent are manufactured in India, including the iPhone. Defence exports, he said, had risen from Rs 686 crore to Rs 23,622 crore.
"Under Modi, India has become a USD 7.3 trillion economy, ranking fourth in the world. Destination weddings, Indian tourism, heritage, yoga and astronomy are all flourishing because Prime Minister Modi delivers what he promises and knows how to turn vision into reality. Even today, the Modi magic continues across the country," Bindal asserted.