Not for country’s progress, it’s a ‘save Modi govt’ budget: Kharge
XCongress President Mallikarjun Kharge (ANI)
NEW DELHI: Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge on Tuesday termed the Union Budget a "copycat" and alleged that it is not for the progress of the country but to save the Modi government.
Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman presented the Budget for 2024-25, her 7th straight presentation, surpassing the record of former prime minister Morarji Desai. This was the first budget during Prime Minister Narendra Modi-led government's third term in office.
In a post in Hindi on X, Kharge said, "The Modi government's 'copycat budget' could not even copy the Congress' Nyay Patra properly! The Modi government's budget is distributing half-hearted 'rewadis (freebies)' to dupe its coalition partners so that the NDA survives."
"This is not a budget for the 'progress of the country', it is a 'save Modi government' budget!" he said.
He said after 10 years, limited announcements have been made for the youth who are bearing the brunt of the "slogan of two crore jobs per year".
"Only superficial talks have been held for farmers — one and a half times MSP and doubling of income — all turned out to be electoral fraud! This government has no intention of increasing rural wages," Kharge said in the post.
"There is no revolutionary scheme for Dalits, Adivasis, backward classes, minorities, middle class and rural poor people like the one implemented by the Congress-led UPA. The word 'poor' has become just a means of self-branding, there is nothing concrete!" the Congress chief alleged.
"There is nothing in this budget for women that would enhance their economic capacity and enable them to participate more and more in the workforce," he said.
On the contrary, the government is patting its back over rising inflation, he said and alleged that it is robbing people of their hard-earned money and distributing it among its capitalist friends.
"Less money has been spent on agriculture, health, education, public welfare and tribals than the budget allocation because these are not the priorities of the BJP. Similarly, Rs 1 lakh crore less has been spent on Capital Expenditure, so how will jobs increase?" he said.
Kharge said on urban development, rural development, infrastructure, manufacturing, MSME, investment, EV scheme, there has only been talk of document, policy, vision, and review but no major announcement has been made.
"Railway accidents are happening every day, trains have been stopped, the number of coaches has been reduced, ordinary passengers are troubled, but nothing has been said about the railways in the budget, there is no accountability," Kharge said.
He further said there was no mention of census and caste census, highlighting that it was the fifth budget which was presented without a census.
"This is a shocking and unprecedented failure – which is against democracy and the Constitution!" the Congress chief said.
"On 20 May 2024, during the elections, Modi ji claimed in an interview that 'We already have a 100-day action plan'…When the action plan was there two months ago, they should have at least spelt it in the budget!" he said.
"There is no plan in the budget and the BJP is only busy in the action of cheating the public," Kharge alleged.
Speaking with reporters later, Kharge said that it seems that the government is angry with the middle class as they have not given anything to the middle class, poor, and backwards.
"They had to please a few to protect their chair and they have openly done that in the budget," he said.
"There was no mention of the funds which were supposed to be allocated for caste census. Youth were demanding permanent jobs… They copied a programme and called it internship. They just cut and paste our scheme. The country is reeling under inflation, but they did not make any mention of steps to tackle it," he said.