BJP MP K J Alphons grabbed the spotlight in Rajya Sabha on Thursday for saying that the likes of Ambani and Adani should be "worshipped" for generating jobs during a debate in the House over unemployment and the Union Budget.
“You can accuse me of being a mouthpiece of the capitalists. The people who have created jobs in this country, let me name those people because you have named them. Be it Reliance, be it Ambani, be it Adani, be it anybody, they must be worshipped. Yes, because they provide jobs… The people who invest money, Ambani, Adani, every industrialist who creates money in this country, create jobs. They have created jobs. They need to be respected", he said.
The Opposition, however, slammed Alphons for his statement and called the growth he spoke of "faceless" and "jobless", adding that the Centre was widening the income gap in the country.
When the Opposition argued that a handful in the country have seen their wealth shoot up during the pandemic, Alphons, a former union minister, said that global inequalities were a fact.
Elon Musk’s wealth has gone up 1016 per cent. Are you aware of this? The wealth of the founder of Google, Larry Page, has gone up 126 per cent. The wealth of Bezos has gone up 67 per cent. The lowest among all these top 10 is Bill Gates. His wealth has one up 30 per cent. Global inequality is a fact, whether you accept it or not. Three billion people in the world live below five dollars a day,” he said.
RJD's Manoj Kumar Jha hit out at FM Nirmala Sitharaman's Union Budget during the debate, saying that the BJP government favours some more than others. "When I look at the style of functioning of this government in the last few years, it becomes clear who is getting amrit (nectar) and who is getting poison. Amrit is for friends. It is sufficiently supplied… and the vast majority of the people are only getting poison.”
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