'Organised fleecing, legalised pilferage' by BJP against common man: Cong

New Delhi: The Congress on Saturday accused the BJP-led NDA government of indulging in "organised fleecing" and "legalised pilferage" by imposing penalties and hurting the middle class and the poor with its "anti-people" measures.

Congress chief spokesperson Randeep Surjewala said his party has demanded the immediate rollback of such policies that burden the common man with more taxes, more charges and take away subsidies of those needing them in the name of development.

"Deception of voters and betrayal of people's faith is the hallmark of PM Modiji's brand of politics. BJP government is making all efforts to hurt and backstab the hardworking middle class and poor of India.

"The Indian National Congress demands immediate rollback of these anti-people policies of the BJP," he said. Surjewala said several "anti-people" steps by BJPgovernment have caused insurmountable pain and agony to the ordinary hardworking citizens and have hurt their savings and hit their daily budgets hard.

"It is unfortunate that the taxpayer continues to bear the brunt of these experiments. The only development they are getting to see is that of rising prices, an expensive 'Digital India', arbitrary charges levied by banks.

"As a responsible opposition and voice of the people, with grave concern we highlight these measures and show the mirror of truth to the BJP government," he said.

The Congress leader said the government has introduced several charges and fees on ordinary citizens dealing with their day-to-day monies in banks, which has burdened ordinary honest citizens paying the price of demonetisation.

He claimed while banks are imposing penal charges for minimum account balance, there would be penalties for cash payments of over Rs 2 lakh and there would be higher charges for withdrawals from ATMs from April 1.

Surjewala said the BJP government has dealt a big blow to the pockets of crores of people who avail health insurance for their future ailments. IRDAI, the insurance regulator, has allowed general insurance companies to pay higher commissions to insurance agents, he said.

"In another shocker, the Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority of India (IRDAI) which is the supreme regulatory authority for insurance has now proposed up to 50 per cent increase in insurance premiums for cars, motorcycles and commercial vehicles, he said.

He said inter-state trade and operators of buses and trucks will have to shell out more in the form of higher toll tax as there is a comprehensive increase in the levy.

The Congress leader said public provident fund rates have fallen below 8 per cent for the first time in 40 years, as government has lowered interest rates on small saving schemes adversely effecting the savings of crores of Indians.

He alleged the changes in income tax will cost the common man as home loan interest claim on rented property is limited up to Rs 2 lakh, and the delay in filing tax returns will also cost more as not filing returns within the deadline will be penalised.