'Who Will Pay For This?': Infosys Ex-CFO Mohandas Pai Questions Congress Party On 'Freebies'

Over the past few years, the role of 'freebies' in the larger socio-political and economic landscape has acquired traction in many discourses. In a welfare state like India, most major political parties have espoused this principle protocol, which is in many cases the primary policy tenet of some parties.

Mohandas Pai Takes On Congress

Even when some parties oppose the same, there are chalking schemes that aid the furtherment of such schemes and programmes.

Former Infosys CFO, Mohandas Pai, while reacting to a poll manifesto of the Congress party ahead of the Haryana Elections, made some observations and critiqued the idea of 'Freebies'.

In his post on X, Pai, while re-quoting a video of Congress party chief M Kharge said, "Who will pay for this? @kharge or @INCIndia @Jairam_Ramesh."

Further, taking a staunch stance against schemes, Pai added, "Karnataka economy is ruined by freebies."

The former Infosys CFO, bemoaning the in the southern state and the capital city, added, " Infra is breaking down, Bengaluru roads are in bad state. Do our youth have a future ? State is suffering badly. Corruption is at an all time high."

In the video, the Congress party's national president spoke of his party's guarantees before the poll. Kharge said, "We are announcing 7 guarantees that we will fulfil once we form government in Haryana... We have divided our 7 promises into 7 sections. Women will be given Rs 2000 every month. We will give Rs 500 every month for gas cylinders.

"Pensions for the elderly, pensions for specially-abled, and pensions for widows as per the old pension scheme will be thoroughly implemented, and each category will get Rs 6,000 each as pension money."

Netizens React

As mentioned before, 'Freebies' have been a hot potato issue in the political arena for some time now. Nevertheless, while parties accuse each other of impropriety, the central government and the state governments alike have welfare policies in place, that may be deemed freebies by some.

Some X users, reacting to Pai's post, reflected the thought. One user said, "You only tweet when congress announces freebies."

Another user added, "Haryana economy is ruined by incompetent and corrupt. Government. Infra is breaking down, Gurgaon roads are in bad state. Do our youth have a future (highest unemployment rate) ? State is suffering badly. Corruption is at an all-time high. Sounds familiar?".

The Haryana State Assembly elections are slated to happen on Saturday, October 5, 2024.