'If you earned ₹12 lakh in Nehruji's time…': How PM Modi praised Budget 2025

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday took a swipe at the Congress, invoking former prime ministers Jawaharlal Nehru and Indira Gandhi to claim that their governments imposed heavy taxes on people’s earnings, while his government has eased the tax burden and provided greater relief to the middle class.

While addressing a rally at RK Puram in Delhi, PM Modi said, “Let me present a picture before you. It will help you understand better and make it easier to explain to others. If we look at this budget—back in Nehru Ji’s time, if you earned ₹12 lakh, the government would take away one-fourth of your salary as tax. If this were Indira Ji’s era, you would be shocked to hear that out of ₹12 lakh, nearly ₹10 lakh would go into taxes. That was the scenario back then, which is why I am explaining this today.”