The Wire Staff 
New Delhi: The Union steel and heavy industries minister and Janata Dal (Secular) leader H.D. Kumaraswamy raked up a controversy when he pointed to the disproportionate subsidies provided to a US-based semiconductor firm. Kumaraswamy said that the US-headquartered Micron Technology that is supposed to set up its $2.5 billion unit in Gujarat was allowed a subsidy of Rs 3.2 crore for every job it will create.
“The new manufacturing unit will generate about 5,000 jobs. For this, we are giving them $2 billion in subsidies… If you calculate, that’s 70% of the company’s total investment,” Kumaraswamy said upon his return to Bengaluru after taking charge as the Union cabinet minister.
However, he quickly clarified that he was “not authorised” to identify the company in his public addresses.
Kumaraswamy’s remarks have again highlighted the raging political debate around rising inequality in the country, in which the opposition forces have accused the Narendra Modi government of waiving off substantial amounts of taxes for the corporates, purportedly to incentivise investments, while giving negligible or zero relaxations for income tax paying individuals.
At the same time, the opposition has also criticised increasing direct taxes on commodities used as farm inputs, levying cess on various services, and gradually tightening indirect taxes on FMCG products.
Against such a backdrop, the newly-appointed Union minister has only given a fillip to the opposition’s criticisms of Modi government’s fiscal policies.
“I asked officials how justifiable it is to allocate such a significant amount of funds. Conversely, there are small-scale industries…In Peenya (an industrial estate in Bengaluru), there are small scale industries. How many lakh jobs have they created? What benefits have we provided to them? I am contemplating these matters, such as how to safeguard the nation’s wealth,” Kumaraswamy said.
He added that his focus would be to create job opportunities for the youth as a minister. “I can facilitate job opportunities outside the state as well. You must be willing to relocate,” the minister told his audience in Bengaluru.
The minister’s independent remarks are also a reflection of how the coalition government at the Centre could face a situation where allies differ on policy matters. Over the last 10 years, when the BJP has a majority on its own, Modi’s cabinet ministers rarely put forward their individual opinions on policy matters, and only reinforced the perception that the Prime Minister’s Office guided them to take every important decision.
Kumaraswamy urged the Congress government in Karnataka to set aside their mutual differences and “collaborate and contribute” for the welfare of the state.