As state polls loom, India’s Modi faces middle class ire over ‘back stabbing’ budget

NEW DELHI: Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, smarting from setbacks in the April-June general election, is now being berated for last week’s budget by the country’s swing voters, the middle class, putting his party on the defensive ahead of polls in three states and a federal territory.

The budget raised taxes on gains from retail investments in financial markets, left income tax rates untouched despite talk there would be relief and removed some real estate tax benefits, leading to outrage among the middle class, which makes up about 30 per cent of India’s 1.42 billion people.

Graphics artist Namdev Katkar said he would like the opposition to replace the alliance led by Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in his state, Maharashtra, one of the four going to the polls. India’s financial capital, Mumbai, is in Maharashtra.

“I will have to pay more taxes for my income and this is like losing our hard-earned money,” said Katkar, who said he invests his savings in the stock market. “I am not yet sure whom to vote for but this time it will not be the BJP.”While any possible losses in the regional polls will not affect Modi’s position as prime minister, they would add to questions about his leadership and reputation of invincibility after the BJP failed to clinch a majority in the general election to the lower house of parliament.

“If the BJP loses in the regional elections, it will impact his leadership quite adversely,” said New Delhi-based political commentator Arati Jerath. “There is already a lot of restlessness within the party at the fact that in the last election ... they could not even get the majority.”