Rahul Gandhi to spearhead Congress’ attack during Budget debate in Lok Sabha

Congress MP Rahul Gandhi will lead the party’s attack during a debate on the General Budget in the Lok Sabha today. He will be the first speaker from his party in the discussion. A debate on the Budget is listed after the consideration of Major Ports Bill in Rajya Sabha, today, while in the Lok Sabha, it is listed after the ongoing discussion on the Motion of Thanks to the President’s address.

Normally, a discussion on the General Budget is taken up first in the Lok Sabha. But exceptions were made in 1955, 1959, 1963, 1965 and 2002 when discussion on Budget commenced first in Rajya Sabha.

The Congress had branded the budgetary announcements a move to support crony capitalism. Reacting to the Budget 2021, former Congress president Rahul Gandhi had said, “Forget putting cash in the hands of people, Modi government plans to hand over India’s assets to his crony capitalist friends.”

Gandhi had also said that the Budget is an assault on the farmers. In a tweet posted in Hindi, Gandhi had said that the “crony-capitalist centric budget” will force farmers to pay more for petrol and diesel while no financial assistance will be provided to them.

Gandhi had also criticised the government for not increasing the defence budget significantly. On February 5, Gandhi had criticised the budget saying, “Modi’s crony centric budget means- Jawans facing Chinese aggression in extreme conditions will get no support. India’s defenders betrayed.”

Attacking the government for not doing enough for the MSME sector, Gandhi had said that the government had also betrayed India’s largest workforce betrayed. Gandhi had tweeted on February 4th saying, “Modi’s crony centric budget means- Struggling MSMEs given no low-interest loans, no GST relief. The employers of India’s largest workforce betrayed.”

Gandhi is expected to continue his tirade against the government and union budget on similar lines in his speech in the Lok Sabha today. Farmers protest, GST, MSMEs sector and unemployment may take the centrestage during his speech.