New Delhi, June 26: Days after the Finance Ministry issued a circular to tax disability pension of defence personnel who superannuated under normal circumstances, Congress on Wednesday launched a scathing attack on the Narendra Modi government. The grand old party shared press statement of its spokesperson Randeep Surjewala on its Twitter handle in which he slammed the decision. Modi Government Imposes Price Cap For Military Officers Buying Discounted Cars Through Canteen Stores Department.

Surjewala called the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) a pseudo-nationalist party. The party spokesperson said, “BJP’s pseudo-nationalism is out in the open as its government shall now tax the disability pension to Armed Forces personnel.” He further added that when a provision of exemption of tax has existed under the Income Tax Act of 1922, then why government taxed that.

Congress' Tweet:

Surjewala also slammed the government over the issue of “One Rank One Pay (OROP)”. Taking a jibe, he said that the BJP government disregarded the honour of our soldiers, veterans and ex-servicemen by making OROP as One Rank Five Pensions. The Congress spokesperson questioned the Centre for not giving the status of a martyr to personnel of Central Armed Paramilitary Forces (CAPF) and also for "withdrawing" their pension parity.  Defence Budget 2019: Piyush Goyal Allocates Whopping Rs 3 Lakh Crore, Attacks UPA Over OROP.

He lambasted the Modi government for imposing monthly limits on the quantity of items that can be purchased by defence personnel from Canteen Stores Department (CSD) and also for withdrawing medical benefits of soldiers who served under Short Service Commission.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Jun 26, 2019 05:40 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).