Budget a let-down, designed to deceive people, says Oppn

NEW DELHI: The Opposition on Monday rejected the Union budget announced by finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman even as the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) called it a vision for an ‘Aatmanirbhar Bharat’.

The Congress asserted that the budget was a ‘let down like never before’ that will “deceive people” and called it a case of ‘wrong diagnosis and prescription’. It also said that Sitharaman had remained ‘timid’ in helping the poor.

Taking to Twitter, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi said: “Forget putting cash in the hands of people, Modi government plans to handover India’s assets to his crony capitalist friends.”

Former finance minister P Chidambaram, in an address to the media later in the day, accused Sitharaman of “deceiving” those who listened to her speech, especially the Members of Parliament (MPS) who had no clue about the imposition of cess on a large number of products, including petroleum and diesel.

“It was a vengeful act against the thousands of farmers who took out the longest tractor rally in history. It was also a cruel blow to federalism because the states do not get a share of the revenue from cesses,” Chidambaram told reporters.

The senior Congress leader called the move a “cruel blow” to the common people, including the farmers.

“She deceived the people of India, especially the poor, the working class, the migrants, the farmers, the industrial units that were closed down permanently, and those who had lost their jobs, both regular and informal, and are still looking for jobs,” he said.

He also attacked the finance minister for not discussing the defence sector, “as if the Chinese had vacated the occupied Indian Territory”. “The fiscal numbers show that the fiscal situation is in a mess. The Revenue Deficit (7.5%) and the Fiscal Deficit (9.5%) in the current year have exceeded every prediction, including the government’s,” he said.

CPI(M) general secretary Sitaram Yechury said the budget would not help in the “V shaped recovery of the economy.” “It will lead to a K-shaped -- rich becoming richer, poor poorer—economy,” he added.

“India’s first paperless budget is also a 100% visionless budget. Theme of the fake budget is Sell India,” Trinamool Congress spokesperson Derek O’brien said.