NEW DELHI: The opposition on Saturday criticised the Union Budget presented by finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman and claimed that the government missed the opportunity to cut slacks for several groups.
Aam Aadmi Party chief Arvind Kejriwal attacked the government for not waiving off home loans and vehicle loans of the middle class and farmers.
Taking to X, Kejriwal said, “A large part of the country’s treasury is spent on waiving off the loans of a few rich billionaires.
I had demanded that it be announced in the budget that from now on, the loans of any billionaire will not be waived off.”
“With the money saved from this middle class home loans and vehicle loans should be waived off; farmers’ loans should be waived off and Income tax and GST tax rates should be halved. I am sad this was not done,” he added.
AAP MP Sanjay Singh claimed the Prime Minister Narendra Modi-led government intends to continue waiving massive sums for capitalists
“AAP national convenor Arvind Kejriwal had demanded the government to announce that it will stop waiving off corporate loans and recover the Rs 16 lakh crore that Modi ji has forgiven of his capitalist friends. That money could have been used to halve GST and income tax rates—but no such announcement was made. This clearly shows that the Modi government intends to continue waiving massive sums for capitalists,” Singh said.
“They have announced relief for the salaried class earning up to Rs 12 lakh, but what about small and medium business owners? How will they get any relief?” he added.
Trinamool Congress MP Abhishek Banerjee said that the Union Budget was made keeping the upcoming Bihar assembly in mind and West Bengal did not get any sops.
“There is nothing for the common man in the budget. As you know that there are elections in Bihar this year, so keeping that in mind, the budget has been presented for Bihar. Everything has been given to Bihar,” Banerjee said.
“When the budget was presented in July 2024, everything was done for Andhra Pradesh and Bihar. For the last 10 years, BJP has been in power and Bengal has not got anything, it is sad and unfortunate,” he added.
Samajwadi Party MP Dimple Yadav said that ‘nothing new’ was offered in the Union Budget.
“Nothing new was there in the budget,” Dimple said.
“Samajwadi Party demands that govt give the details of all those devotees who lost their lives in Maha Kumbh. We demand the state govt to tell the reason behind the tragedy and also if they’ll punish the officers responsible for that,” she added.
Earlier, SP chief Akhilesh Yadav emphasised that the lives lost in the Mahakumbh stampede are more significant than budgetary figures.
Speaking to the media, Yadav criticised the government over the handling of the Maha Kumbh, stating that the death toll from the recent stampede is being misreported.
“Maha Kumbh comes after 12 years. For us, the data of people who died in the stampede in Maha Kumbh is more important than the budget data. The government is not able to tell how many people died, went missing or got injured. The death toll that has been given by the government is false… What arrangements have you made? This government says that we are a party of Hindus but they are not able to make arrangements for this biggest festival of Hindus,” he said.
Sitharaman’s budget included several measures such as a new Income Tax bill to simplify the current system, an increase in foreign direct investment in the insurance sector to 100%, and support for India’s marine sector.
She also announced initiatives like a national mission for cotton production and the establishment of a Makhana Board in Bihar. The opposition has linked the Bihar-centric announcements to political calculations, given the upcoming elections in the state.
This marks the second consecutive year that Bihar has received significant allocations in the Union Budget. Last year, the Centre had announced development projects worth Rs 58,900 crore, including road projects, a 2,400MW power plant, and flood management initiatives.
The finance minister also unveiled plans to establish daycare cancer centres in district hospitals, add 10,000 seats in medical colleges, and provide broadband connectivity to government secondary schools and primary healthcare centres.
