New Delhi: Attacking the government, the Congress said its ‘mitr kaal’ budget “betrayed” the hopes of a vast majority of Indians while also showing how far removed the Centre is from the people and their concerns about livelihood.
Congress Chief Mallikarjun Kharge claimed that Budget was “big on announcements and short on delivery”. He also accused BJP government of making the common man’s life difficult.
Mr. Chidambaram said, the Budget “shows how far the government is removed from the people and their concerns about life, livelihood and the growing inequality between the rich and the poor”. He asserted that no tax has been reduced in the Budget except for the small number of people who will opt for the new tax regime.
He said, government wants to “rob the ordinary tax payer of the meagre social security that he may get under the old tax regime”. There is nothing to cheer about for the minorities in the Budget for 2023-2024 presented by Indian Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman in the Parliament. The government has proposed a huge cut of over Rs1923 crores in the allocation for the minorities by giving them only Rs 3097.60 crore in the budget.
Earlier, minorities had a budget of Rs 5,020.50 cores. Congress General Secretary Jairam Ramesh tweeted, “Last year’s Budget drew applause for allocation towards agriculture, health, education, MGNREGA & welfare of SCs.
Today the reality is evident. Actual expenditure is substantially LOWER than budgeted. This is Modi’s OPUD strategy of headline management—Over Promise, Under Deliver”. Senior Congress leader pointed out that neither the indirect taxes have been reduced nor has there been any cut in the Goods and Services Tax (GST).
There has been no reduction in the prices of petrol, diesel, cement, fertilizers among others and the numerous surcharges and cesses, that are not shared with the State governments, also continue to exist. Congress leader Rahul Gandhi criticized the budget saying that it has no vision to create employment and deal with the growing gap between the rich and the poor.
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