Kashifa Wisal, Pune
The head of the opposition in the Lok Sabha, Rahul Gandhi, attacked the Union Budget 2024 on Tuesday, referring to it as the “Kursi Bachao Budget”. He charged the Finance Minister, Nirmala Sitharaman with making unfulfilled promises. MPs of the INDIA Bloc protested against the budget in the Parliament complex.
Rahul Gandhi, on the social media platform “X” tweeted, that the Kursi Bachao Budget keeps the empty promises to appease BJPs allies, at the cost of non-ruled (by BJP) states, while the average Indian finds no comfort. The government copied and pasted previous budgets and the Congress manifesto, he said.
He attacked the budget by writing on a Facebook Post as the budget is an assault on the Indian federal system, other states are neglected and subjected to prejudice out of a desire to hold on to power.
Mallikarjun Kharge also used ‘X’ to tweet, attacking the Modi government and saying that the ‘copycat budget’ could not even mimic Congress’s Nyay Patra closely. The BJP is attempting to dupe its coalition Partners into endorsing the NDA with this Budget by providing them fictitious ‘Rewadis’ (freebies). He also said that the budget is not for the advancement of the nation but to save Modi’s administration.
The adoption of Congress’ Employment-Linked Incentive (ELI) and Apprenticeship scheme was welcomed by senior Congress leader P Chidambaram, who pointed out that the budget had
“missed opportunities.” He did, however, wish that more of the Congress manifesto’s suggestions had been incorporated. Chidambaram applauded the removal of the Angel Tax as well, as this was a long-standing demand of the Congress.
Akhilesh Yadav, the leader of Samajwadi Party, also slammed the budget, calling it a ploy to hold onto power while highlighting special projects for Bihar and Andhra Pradesh. “They have increased unemployment in the last ten years,” he remarked, raising concerns about the BJP’s work done for young people and farmers.
According to Congress leader Jairam Ramesh, the decadal population census, which was scheduled to take place in 2021, was not mentioned in Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman’s budget speech on Tuesday, he said that the Modi government had failed to conduct the census.
Mamata Banerjee, the chief minister of West Bengal, attacked the Union Budget 2024-25,
characterizing it as lacking vision, politically motivated, and a lack of direction. Rakesh Tikait, a prominent farmer, voiced his displeasure, claiming that the budget would not help actual farmers.