Opposition members criticised the government for the fuel price hike, and demanded that it be withdrawn. (File photo)The Opposition on Monday tore into the government while debating the Union Budget in the Lok Sabha, highlighting key issues including unemployment, fuel price hike and farm distress.
While the government has described the Budget as a roadmap for achieving a $5 trillion economy, Congress member Shashi Tharoor, using cricket metaphors, said it was characterised by “distinctive misses”, “unnecessarily defensive strokes, dropped catches and quite a few no balls”.
Initiating the debate, Tharoor said the Budget did not address key issues facing the economy, including farm distress and rising fuel prices.
Explained: What does it mean for India to become a $5-trillion economy
But former Union minister Jayant Sinha said the numbers did not support the Opposition’s charges. “Shashi Tharoor has a way with words but we also have to pay attention to numbers and not just words,” he said.
Sinha alleged that what the Congress could not achieve in 60 years was done by the BJP in 60 months. “When our government came to power in 2014, the economy was in a critical stage… it was a passenger train. We came and brought the train on track… and made that passenger train into Rajdhani train…And due to this visionary and effective Budget we will make this Rajdhani train into a bullet train,” he said.
Sinha said when the NDA government came to power in 2014, it inherited a GDP of Rs 111 lakh crore. Five years later, the Modi government achieved a 70% increase and took the GDP to Rs 188 lakh crore, he said. “I want to say that this Budget will not only help us achieve the $5 trillion economy target but has laid the foundation for a $10 trillion economy in the future,” he said.
Opposition members criticised the government for the fuel price hike, and demanded that it be withdrawn.
T R Baalu of DMK said the rise in fuel price would have a cascading impact on prices and demanded that it should be withdrawn immediately. “Common man will suffer because of increase in prices of petrol and diesel… why common man is being punished like that,” he asked.
TMC member Kalyan Banerjee said the fuel price hike would have a “tremendous impact on the daily life of the people”. Criticising the disinvestment plan, Banerjee said: “Disinvestment target has been increased to Rs 1,05,000 crore in this Budget. Therefore, you are selling the nation’s property. You are selling the country itself.”
BJD MP B Mahtab demanded that states like Bihar and Odisha be given ‘Special Focus State’ tag as they are repeatedly affected by natural calamities. “We do not want this to be in perpetuity… During the last four years, we have faced four cyclones. Therefore, it is necessary that attention should be given to it by the Union Government,” he said.
Meanwhile, NDA ally Shiromani Akali Dal member Sukhbir Singh Badal demanded that Chandigarh be termed a state capital minus the Union Territory tag so that the taxes go to the state coffers. “Punjab is on the brink of an acute crisis of the water table and that has happened because we grow food for the rest of the country,” he said, adding that Punjab’s farmers need to be compensated.
