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Former Union Finance Minister and senior Congress leader P Chidambaram on Thursday termed Prime Minister Narendra Modi's claim that the previous Congress government wanted to allocate 15 per cent of the budget for Muslims as "totally false" and "an outrageous allegation."
"What he said, I assume that it was in his teleprompter and somebody must have written a speech and put it on his teleprompter and he was speaking from a teleprompter. In that sense, I can only blame his speechwriter for making a completely false and bizarre statement and an outrageous allegation. We have never allocated 15 per cent of the budget to Muslims. That's completely false and then to suggest that the Congress has planned to have a Hindu Budget and a Muslim Budget is another bizarre statement," he told ANI. Chidambaram also dismissed the claim that Congress will present a Muslim budget and a Hindu budget, saying that for the last 75 years, finance ministers have presented a single annual budget to the parliament, which is either approved, changed, or rejected. So, the concept of having separate budgets for different religions doesn't arise. "For the last 75 years, successive finance ministers have presented one annual financial statement (AFS) to parliament, which is popularly called a budget, and that is either passed, modified or defeated. Where is the question of having a Hindu budget and a Muslim budget?" he said. Recently, while addressing an election rally, Prime Minister Narendra Modi alleged that when the Congress was in power it wanted to allocate 15 per cent of the government budget for Muslims. Four phases of Lok Sabha polls have been held and the voting will conclude on June 1, with results on June 4. The remaining phases will be held on May 20, May 25, and June 1. (ANI)
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