25 cr poor people have been lifted out of poverty in last 10 years: BJP MP Anurag Thakur calls budget "roadmap for development"

Jammu (Jammu & Kashmir ) [India], February 24 : BJP MP Anurag Thakur on Monday praised the Union Budget 2025-26, calling it a "roadmap for development" that will help realise Prime Minister Narendra Modi's vision of a 'Viksit Bharat' by 2047.
Thakur emphasised that the Modi government has fulfilled its commitments over the last decade, lifting 25 crore Indians out of multidimensional poverty.
This achievement is a significant step towards achieving the SDG target of reducing multidimensional poverty by at least half by 2030.
Speaking at a press conference in Jammu, Thakur highlighted key provisions that benefit various sectors, including the middle class, MSMEs, farmers, and startups.
"Nirmala Sitharaman ji presented the financial year 2025-26 budget, and we can say that this budget will play a very important role in taking India towards a developed India," Thakur said.
He emphasised that the Modi government has fulfilled its commitments over the last decade. "He had said this would be a government for the poor, workers, women, youth, and farmers, and he has delivered. Twenty-five crore poor people have been lifted out of poverty in the last ten years," he said.
On tax relief, Thakur underlined the significant exemption for the middle class. "Narendra Modi ji has made income up to twelve lakh rupees tax-free. Earlier, under Congress rule, the tax was levied on income above two lakh rupees. The Modi government has increased the exemption limit from two lakh to twelve lakh," he stated.
For small businesses, he noted, "Investment limits for micro-enterprises have increased from one crore to two and a half crore, while turnover limits have doubled from five crore to ten crore. Similarly, for small enterprises, investment has increased from ten crore to twenty-five crore, and for medium enterprises, from fifty crore to one hundred twenty-five crore."
Thakur also highlighted relief measures for farmers, including enhancements to the Kisan Credit Card scheme. "The loan limit has been increased from three lakh to five lakh rupees. If farmers repay on time, they receive an interest subvention of four per cent, bringing their effective interest rate down to three per cent. In some BJP-ruled states, it even goes to zero," he added.
Speaking about the healthcare sector, he mentioned the government's decision to waive customs duty on 36 life-saving drugs. "Customs duty on these medicines has been reduced to zero, and concessional duty has been set at six per cent," he said.
On the startup ecosystem, Thakur pointed out that India now has over 1.5 lakh startups and 117 unicorns, making it the third-largest startup ecosystem globally. "To boost this sector further, credit guarantee cover has been doubled from ten crore to twenty crore," he added.
Thakur also attacked AAP national convenor Arvind Kejriwal, accusing him of evading accountability over critical CAG reports.
Thakur's remarks come as the CAG report is set to be tabled in the Delhi assembly. The report could potentially expose alleged corruption within the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government.
Thakur emphasized that Kejriwal's politics were built on the CAG report, but the AAP leader has consistently dodged answerability.
The BJP MP asserted that it is now his party's responsibility to expose the truth by tabling the CAG report in the Legislative Assembly.
"The person whose politics started based on the CAG report is Arvind Kejriwal and the party called AAP. They always escaped answerability. The public has shown them the door now. Now, it is BJP's responsibility to table the CAG report in the Legislative Assembly and expose Arvind Kejriwal's corruption before the country," said the BJP MP.