Budget 2024: The Bharatiya Janata Party, known as the BJP, has welcomed the Budget 2024-25, as being outlined for futuristic developments in India, presented by Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman. The Opposition, mainly led by the Congress party, has come down heavily on the Budget, terming it politically oriented, devoid of original ideas.
Congress Cautions
Former Finance Minister and Congress Rajya Sabha MP P. Chidambaram took to ‘X’ (Formerly Twitter) to express his skepticism about the Budget. The party has, however, said that employment-linked incentives and apprenticeship announcement schemes were lifted directly from its own manifesto of the Congress in preparation of the forthcoming Lok Sabha election, 2024.
Another frontline Congress leader, Rahul Gandhi, described the Budget as a “Kursi Bachao” (Save the Seat) Budget. In a tweet, he said that the Budget once again promised friends while completely abandoning any promise to the common man. He also criticized the BJP for copy-pasting the thesis on the Congress manifesto and previous budgets.
Reactions from Other Opposition Parties
The Union Budget came in for much criticism with Samajwadi Party MP Ram Gopal Yadav terming it as really a “show of numbers” since most of it he was sure was not going to be effectively implemented. The MP’s statement only echoed what the general line of thinking is, that the Budget was all about presentation and not substance.
“We were all demanding that farmers should get MSP, but the support price is given to the alliance partners who are saving their govt, rather than the farmers… The government could not take any concrete steps regarding inflation,” ANI quoted Yadav as saying.
BJP’s Dream, Opposition’s Nightmare
Congress MP Manish Tewari criticized the Bihar and Andhra Pradesh-related announcements made by the government, indicating that such special treatment was provided to those states where the ruling parties are associated with the NDA, thus proving the “political compulsions” of the Budget.
He used English proverb “the tale wags the dog” to indicate that it was the political alliance driving the allocation of the Budget.
A cryptic Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar also reacted on being asked why his state had not received the ‘special status’. “You will get to know all things slowly and slowly,” is what was replied by Nitish Kumar, thereby giving a hint of the possible future development or negotiation.
Opposition Sees Political Compulsions
Union Minister Kiren Rijiju lauded the Budget as a “dream budget” for all sections of society. Elaborating, Rijiju said the economically backward regions of eastern India—comprising Bihar, Jharkhand, West Bengal, Odisha, Andhra Pradesh, and the Northeast—would benefit from the budget announcements that initiate big infrastructure projects.
Congress MP Shashi Tharoor said the speech of the Finance Minister did not include anything with regard to the MNREGA employment scheme. Tharoor said the Budget for India has failed to innovate to tackle the rising inequality in the country as no serious proposal came to improve the earnings of the country’s weakest 40%.
A jibe at the government was also made by Priyanka Chaturvedi, an MP from Shiv Sena (UBT), who said the Budget should be named the ‘PM Sarkaar Bachao Yojana’. She said if BJP had announced a special budget and availed funds to the states to satiate its alliance partners, it should have announced funds to other ignored states like Maharashtra too. On the other hand, Uttar Pradesh Deputy CM KP Maurya hailed the Budget saying that it went beyond his expectations and would be largely beneficial for the state.
The Union Budget 2024-25 has once again opened up a huge debate between the ruling BJP and the Opposition. While the BJP leaders were heard saying that the Budget has laid the vista of a plan for India’s future, the Opposition alleged that the government’s motivation is purely political with a touch of unoriginality in package to package it appropriately. As the discussion goes on, these budgetary announcements would go a long way in changing the political scenario and the social-economic development of the country.