New Delhi, Feb 1 (UNI) Indian National Congress (INC) reacted sharply to the Union Budget and slammed Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman for her Monday address, saying that the budget was a let down like never before.
The party claimed that this plan for the upcoming financial year (2021-2022) will unravel soon. It described the imposition of cess on petrol and diesel in the budget as a "vengeful act" against farmers who took out the tractor rally.
The opposition party said it was a case of "wrong diagnosis and prescription", and that Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman could have been "brave" by extending help to the poor, but chose to be "timid".
Congress leader Rahul Gandhi highlighted sectors that the government must focus on in their Budget, including the MSME sector. The Congress leader also urged on the need to generate employment for the farmers and workers and increase expenditure in the healthcare and defence sectors in the country.
Former Union Minister for Finance and Home Affairs, P Chidambaram held a press conference shortly after the Budget session. He said that FM Nirmala Sitharaman deceived people, especially poor, working-class, migrants and farmers.
"As expected, the FM has paid special attention to election bound states. She announced large capital outlays for Kerala, Tamil Nadu, West Bengal and Assam," he said.
"Preelection-boundools: they know that the proposals are only outlays and the actual expenditure will happen only after the schemes are approved and over a period of several years depending upon the pace of implementation. She made a reference to the Hon’ble Prime Minister 14 times and to the farmers 11 times. A good 40 minutes before she read para 141 of her speech, Bloomberg put out the FD and RD numbers for 2020-21!," Chidambaram added.
He further said, "On the 10 point test that we had suggested on 28th January, the Budget fails on most points. It barely passes on one point. The FM gave out a mind-boggling figure of ₹223, 846 crores for Heath, a breathtaking “rise” from the Budget Estimate of the current year of ₹94,452 crores. As I had warned, it was a conjurer’s trick. She added the one-time cost of vaccination ((Rs 35,000 crore) and the Finance Commission grants amounting to ₹49,214 crores. She also included the allocations to the Department of Water and Sanitation. Shorn of these add-ons, the allocations for Health were Rs 72,934 in 2020-21 and Rs 79,602 crore in 2021-22."
"We welcome the spending on infrastructure but after 8 quarters of a slowdown and 4 quarters of a pandemic, the same kind of emphasis should have been given to the poor, working-class, migrants, agricultural labourers and so on. The Budget may have had a mind behind it but certainly no heart behind it," he added.
"The Finance Minister flattered me by quoting the same couplet from Tirukkural that I had recited in one of my early budget speeches," said P Chidambaram. "She flattered to deceive," he added.
"She deceived those who were listening to her speech, especially the MPs, who had no clue that she had imposed cesses on a large number of products including petroleum and diesel: ₹2.50 on petrol per litre and ₹ 4.00 on diesel per litre is a cruel blow to the average citizen, including the farmer," said Mr Chidambaram.
"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," he claimed.
"She did not mention defence at all, as if the Chinese had vacated occupied Indian territory. She did not mention that Defence expenditure in 2021-22 will see no rise. It is flat at Rs 3,47,088 crore, almost the same as the Rs 3,43,822 crore in the current year," he complained.
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