New Delhi: The Opposition on Wednesday claimed the Union Budget was “discriminatory” against non-NDA-ruled states and accused the prime minister of running a “shaky and vulnerable” coalition government. The ruling BJP rejected the charge and described the budgetary provisions as a tool to achieve the dream of a ‘Vikisit Bharat’.
During the general discussion on the budget for 2024-25 in the Lok Sabha, various opposition members accused the government of doling out sops to key allies JD-U and TDP, which rule Bihar and Andhra Pradesh respectively, to ensure that the government faces no hurdles from its coalition partners.
Participating in the debate, BJP MP B Mahtab said barring a few sops for allies, the policy priorities of the budget suggest there is no change in its approach and has the long-term goal of achieving a ‘Viksit Bharat’ by 2047.
He also said the budget will empower the “neo-middle class” and asserted that the 2024 election results have not “ruffled” the government.
Initiating the debate, Congress MP Kumari Selja dubbed the budget a collection of “jumlas” (rhetorical promises) as she cautioned NDA members Nitish Kumar and N Chandrababu Naidu that they may celebrate today for getting a large share but it doesn’t take long for time to change.
“Who is this budget for? Is it only for two states, or has some consideration been given to the entire country? It doesn’t seem like anything beyond these two states or BJP-ruled states has been considered,” Selja said.
She criticised the budget as “kursi bachao budget” and “vichlit budget”, questioning how target groups of poor, women, farmers and youth were identified without a caste census.
“Rahul Gandhi has repeatedly demanded a caste census. How can you count the target group if you do not conduct and make the census public?” she wondered.
Participating in the discussion, BJP MP from Tripura Biplab Deb said the NDA will be in government till 2047 and will take India to newer heights, while making the country number one economy in the world.
He said the interests of all states and all sections have been taken care of. An additional Rs 4.82 lakh crore share has been allocated for the states, he added.
Trinamool Congress leader Abhishek Banerjee claimed that Prime Minister Narendra Modi was leading a “creaky, shaky and vulnerable” coalition government that looked after the interests of only two states in the budget, ignoring all other citizens in the country.
He said the budget is “anti-people” and aimed at “appeasing and compensating” coalition partners of the ruling NDA.
“The budget has no vision and agenda. There is no relief to the common people and it has neglected 140 crore people of the country,” he said in a hard-hitting speech amid repeated disruption by a few BJP members from West Bengal.
The TMC MP said he will expand the word ‘BUDGET’ as B for betrayal, U for unemployment, D for deprived, G for guarantees which were failed by the government and T for tragedies. His expansion of the letter E was expunged by the Chair later.
Hitting out at the TMC leader, Union minister G Kishan Reddy said what Banerjee has claimed applies to the West Bengal government and not the government of India.
DMK’s Dayanidhi Maran said Prime Minister Modi is not working for people who voted for his party but only for parties supporting him, as he criticised the Budget 2024-25 for failing to meet the aspirations of middle class people.
He claimed nearly Rs 4 lakh crore had been promised as subsidy to Andhra Pradesh and Bihar to support Modi being prime minister. “I would like to ask, from where is the money going to come, at whose cost are you going to do this?”
Congress’ Shashi Tharoor asserted that the Union Budget in many ways is emblematic of the government’s “economic mismanagement and financial recklessness”.
He also said the brakes of the Indian economy have fallen off but this government’s horn keeps getting louder.
Tharoor also took a swipe at the BJP over the renaming of Ayushman wellness centres as Ayushman Arogya Mandirs, saying a certain constituency in Uttar Pradesh should have taught the BJP never again to “exploit a mandir for scoring political goals”.
“This underwhelming budget is a woefully missed opportunity. After all, this was the government’s chance to prove to the citizens that after the colossal setback the BJP suffered in the recently concluded general election, the finance minister (Nirmala Sitharaman) and the Prime Minister (Narendra Modi) have actually listened to the people of the country,” he said.
TDP MP Sribharat Mathukumili hailed the budget as “visionary”.
“After NDA government came to power in 2014 and our leader Chandrababu Naidu was chief minister, we systematically worked on developing the economy, we competed with Telangana in the development of our per capita income…on multiple metrics we were doing well,” he said.
NCP-SCP leader Supriya Sule criticised the budget, saying it has failed to address various issues facing the country, including agrarian distress.
She also appealed to the government to hold assembly elections in Jammu and Kashmir.
In the House, a remark by BJP MP Abhijit Gangopadhyay, a former judge of the Calcutta High Court, created uproar.
Participating in the discussion, Gangopadhyay made certain remarks against members of the Opposition.
Congress’ Gaurav Gogoi registered his protest against the remark and requested the Speaker to expunge the said “unparliamentary word”.
Later, the Speaker informed the House that the said remark has been expunged.
With the conclusion of Gangopadhyay’s speech, the Lok Sabha proceeding was adjourned for Thursday.
