Why no interest waiver on loans for middle class, asks Rahul Gandhi

Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Thursday attacked the government over interest on deferred loan payments and asked why it gave tax benefits of Rs 1.45 lakh crore to businesses but did not waive interest on loans for the middle class.

In a tweet, he said, "1450000000000 tax cut benefit given to big businesses. But no interest waiver on loans for the middle class" and dubbed the government of being a "suit boot ki Sarkar".

He also attached a news report stating that the Supreme Court slammed the Centre and asked it to clarify its stand on the charging of interest on deferred loan payments.

The Supreme Court on Wednesday said the Centre is "hiding behind the RBI" and asked it to reply within a week on the issue of interest being charged on instalments which have been deferred under the central bank's scheme during the moratorium period amid Covid-19 lockdown.

The court had earlier asked the Centre and the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) to review the move to charge interest on EMIs during the moratorium period introduced under the scheme due to the Covid-19 pandemic.