Known for often harbouring delusions of grandeur, YouTuber Dhruv Rathee, who frequently pushes opposition talking points as his own, recently attempted to steal credit for the tax relief announced by Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Saturday, Feb 1.
Quoting a video released 5 days before the budget day, Rathee triumphantly tweeted, “Looks like all this criticism has finally had some impact!” after N Sitharaman announced a slew of tax relief measures, including the much-talked-about nil income tax for income up to Rs 12 lakhs per annum.
Earlier today, in a big relief for the middle class, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman announced income tax exemption up to income of Rs 12 lakhs.
The Finance Minister also announced a big overhaul of income tax slab rates under the new tax regime.
The new tax slabs will look like this:
- Upto 4,00,000 – 0%
- ₹4,00,000-₹8,00,000 – 5%
- ₹8,00,000-₹12,00,000 – 10%
- ₹12,00,000-₹16,00,000 – 15%
- ₹16,00,000-₹20,00,000 – 20%
- ₹20,00,000-₹24,00,000 – 25%
- Above 24,00,000 – 30%
While the budget had other significant announcements as well, the tax relief for the middle class naturally stole the thunder, becoming a topic of newsroom discussion and social media chatter.
As social media platforms were abuzz with users lauding the Finance Minister for the relief measures, Rathee perhaps sensed an opportunity to cast himself as a non-sense “critic” whose criticism the Centre took seriously and to augment his stature among his foolish supporters who routinely take his poorly researched opinions and politically charged tropes in his YouTube videos as gospel.
If Rathee is to be believed, the Centre went into a panic as soon as it saw his recent YouTube video that was released just 5 days ago, immediately called an emergency meeting, mobilized resources necessary to incorporate changes in order to harmonise it with Rathee’s suggestions in his video.
Though Rathee might claim the centre heeded his suggestions to befool his followers, it is imperative to note that responsible and accountable governments have a strong feedback mechanism, their ears rooted firmly to the ground to sense a growing rumbling among their supporters and act appropriately within the ambit of the constitution rather than wasting its time watching poorly researched videos of their inveterate detractors and chafe at the bit of incorporating suggestions made by them.
