Do you know, according to Aam Aadmi Party leader and Rajya Sabha MP from Punjab Ragha Chadha, who happens to be a Chartered Accountant by profession before joining politics, every person in Gujarat has a debt of Rs 58,000 crores, and the Gujarat government spends Rs 38,000 crores on every person annually. These two bizarre figures were thrown at the public during Chadha’s two brief media interactions on October 11 during his visit to Amreli district and Bhavnagar district in Gujarat.
At Amreli, he said, “I am a Chartered Accountant by profession. I was looking at some figures. I am feeling very sad while telling you that the Gujarat government is in debt of Rs 3.5 lakh crore because of the corrupt policies of a corrupt leader. It is said, and it might be true, that the people of Gujarat if they touch a stone, it turns into gold. The people of Gujarat are the best at running businesses. The business is in the air of Gujarat. People perfectly understand businesses here. They know how to convert a loss-making business into a profit-making business.”
He added, “However, the corrupt leaders of Gujarat have turned a profit-making government into a loss-making government. There is a debt of Rs 3.5 lakh crore on the people of Gujarat. The total population of Gujarat is 6.5 crores. If you calculate, every person has a debt of 58,000 crores. Every person has a debt of Rs 58,000 crores. If a child takes birth in Gujarat, there is a debt of Rs 58,000 crores on his or her head from day one.”
Now, for once, let’s forget the fact that the debt liability is of the state and not of the public. If we divide 3.5 lakh crores (Rs 35,00,00,00,00,000) with 6.5 crores (6,50,00,000) then we get Rs 53,846, not Rs 58,000 crores as Chadha claimed. If every person supposedly had 58,000 crores debt, Gujarat government would have ended up with Rs 3,77,00,000 lakh crores (3,77,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,000) worth of debt.
At Bhavnagar, he said, “The annual budget of Gujarat government is Rs 2.5 lakh crores. That means the Gujarat government spends 2.5 lakh crores on infrastructure development. I want to ask the people of Bhavnagar if a share of the budget reached them. The total population of Gujarat is 6.5 crores. The annual budget is Rs 2.5 lakh crores. That means the government spends Rs 38,000 on every person. Every person gets facilities worth Rs 38,000 crores every year. This is what the government gives you theoretically on paper. I want to ask you did those Rs 38,000 crores reach you. No one got it.”
Initially, he did not use ‘crores’ with Rs 38,000, but later, he added ‘crores’ to it and messed up his calculations again. If we calculate, the government, according to Chadha’s figures, spends Rs 38,461 every year on every person in Gujarat and not Rs 38,000 crores that he has claimed in his statement. One may wonder how much Gujarat Government’s budget would have been if it started to spend Rs 38,000 crores every year on every person living in Gujarat!
Reactions from netizens over the goof-up
Following Chadha’s amazing calculations, netizens had a lot of fun at his expense.
Twitter user BefittingFacts said, “AAP MP Raghav Chadha says that every Gujarati has debt of ₹58000 Crore. He didn’t stop there, he also said that if a new baby is born in Gujarat, he borns with debt of ₹58000 Crore. Total debt on Gujarat is around ₹3.5 lakh crore around. Priyanka Chaturvedi didi got competition.(sic)”
AAP MP @raghav_chadha says that every Gujarati has debt of ₹58000 Crore. He didnt stop there, he also said that if a new baby is born in Gujarat, he borns with debt of ₹58000 Crore.
— Facts (@BefittingFacts) October 11, 2022
Total debt on Gujarat is around ₹3.5 lakh crore around.@priyankac19 didi got competition.
Twitter user PoliticalKida shared a video of Chadha announcing he is a chartered accountant followed by the goof-up. He called it the “Gems of AAP”.
Gems of AAP @raghav_chadha pic.twitter.com/nSUUujnUPb
— Political Kida (@PoliticalKida) October 11, 2022
Another popular Twitter user Being_Humor rooted for a Nobel in Mathematics for Raghav Chadha while quoting another Twitter user Naman who had shared the video.
Next Nobel Prize winner in Maths. @raghav_chadha 🥳👇🏻 https://t.co/FWxonTKulj
— mthn (@Being_Humor) October 11, 2022
AAP has a history of messed-up calculations
This is not the first time an Aam Aadmi Party leader has come up with bizarre figures. Raghav Chadha, in May 2021, took to social media to give logic-defying calculations with respect to cryogenic oxygen tanks. In a video, he claimed that there are 1631 cryogenic tanks in India. He said that the total production of liquid medical oxygen is 8,500 MT. He then claimed that these tankers have the actual capacity to carry 23,000 MT of oxygen but are used only for ferrying 8,500 MT of liquid medical oxygen.
A Twitter user pointed out many of these tankers ply empty to the source of oxygen to be refilled before they can ply again with oxygen to the required destination. Moreover, many of these tankers take over 24 hours for the one-way journey because of the long distances they have to cover. It is not that the tankers can teleport in an instant. Some even pointed out that if all tankers were to ply at the same time with oxygen, with none returning to the source for refilling, there would be a huge lag in deliveries.
Not to forget, in 2014, Arvind Kejriwal claimed that the price of a ticket for a Bullet Train would be Rs 75,000 for a one-side trip.
Kejriwal is an IIT graduate and worked with the Income Tax department before becoming a full-time activist, followed by a full-time politician.
