PM MODI PRAISES THE INTERIM BUDGET, WHILE MALLIKARJUN KHARGE AND AKHILESH DEPLORE IT AS ANTI PEOPLE

There have been different comments on the present government’s interim budget tabled in Lok Sabha by the Union finance minister Dr. Nirmala Sitaraman, this being the last budget of the BJP led NDA government with general elections to be declared in the month of March. While prime minister Narendra Modi has left no stone unturned to term this interim budget as innovative and inclusive, empowering all the four pillars of Viksit Bharat, the veteran Congress leader and president of Congress party Mallikarjun Kharge has called this budget as inflation and unemployment oriented bringing no relief to the poor and middle class of the country. The Samajwadi leader and former chief minister of Uttar Pradesh Akhilesh Tarav has termed this interim budget as a farewell budget , having completed decade of anti people Shameful budget. The detailed views of all the three leaders of BJP, Congress and Samajwadi Party are given below.

Hailing the interim budget prime minister Narendra, Modi said :

Today’s Budget, though an Interim Budget, is an inclusive and innovative Budget. This Budget carries the confidence of continuity. This Budget will empower all four pillars of ‘Viksit Bharat’ — youth, the poor, women, and farmers. Nirmala ji’s Budget is a Budget for building the future of the country. This Budget carries the guarantee of strengthening the foundation of ‘Viksit Bharat’ by 2047. I congratulate Nirmala ji and her team wholeheartedly said PM Narendra, Modi

In a detailed message to countrymen prime minister Narendra Modi said , this Budget reflects Bharat’s young aspirations. Two important decisions have been taken in the Budget. A fund of Rs. 1 lakh crore has been announced for research and innovation. There has also been an announcement in the Budget to expand the tax exemption for start-ups.

Praising the budget for keeping the fiscal deficit under control Prime Minister Modi said while keeping the fiscal deficit under control in this Budget, a historic high of Rs. 11 lakh 11 thousand 111 crore has been allocated for capital expenditure. In the language of economists, this is somewhat of a sweet spot adding that this will not only lead to the construction of 21st-century modern infrastructure in Bharat, but also create countless new opportunities for employment for the youth. In the Budget, it has been announced to manufacture 40,000 modern coaches under the ‘Vande Bharat Standard’ and induct them in regular passenger trains enhancing the experience of comfortable travel for millions of passengers on different railway routes across the country said prime minister Modi.

Assuring countrymen especially the poor PM Modi said : We set a big goal, achieve it, and then set an even bigger goal for ourselves. We have built more than 4 crore houses for the poor in villages and cities. Now we have set a goal of building 2 crore more new houses. Our initial goal was to make 2 crore women ‘Lakhpati Didis’. Now, this goal has been increased to making 3 crore ‘Lakhpati Didis’. The Ayushman Bharat scheme has greatly helped the poor. Now, Anganwadi and ASHA workers will also benefit from this scheme emphasised PM Narendra Modi.

Terming the budget and pro poor and empowering the middle class as well prime minister said that in this Budget, significant emphasis has been placed on empowering the poor and middle class, creating new income opportunities for them. Under the Rooftop Solar campaign, one crore families will receive free electricity through solar rooftop panels. Not only this, people will also earn an additional income of 15 to 20 thousand rupees annually by selling surplus electricity to the government. This income will be available to every family.

Hailing the decision of his government in terms if income tax relief Prime minister said that the announcement of the income tax remission scheme today will provide significant relief to nearly one crore middle-class individuals. Accusing previous government for burdening the middle class Modi said that previous governments had burdened the common man with a heavy sword hanging over their heads for decades. Today, crucial and significant decisions have also been made for the farmers in this Budget. Whether it’s the use of Nano DAP, a new scheme for livestock, expansion of the PM Matsya Sampada Yojana, or the Aatmanirbhar Oil Seed Abhiyan, farmers’ income will increase, and there will be considerable reduction in expenses said PM Modi .

Highly critical of the interim Budget of the BJP led NDA government, the senior Congress leader and chief Mallikarjun Kharge wrote on social media platform X : I heard the budget speech. I thought that the Finance Minister would bring some new schemes for the POOR and MIDDLE CLASS. There will be some announcements to ease their suffering. But nothing like this happened. Like every year, the interim budget of the Modi government was just a maze of colorful words! There was nothing concrete in it, it is the habit of this government to make tall and hollow claims. The Finance Minister said in #Budget2024 that she will table a White Paper in the House to compare 2014 and 2024. So they should be told that – 1. How many of the promises made by the government in the last 10 years were fulfilled? How many are left? There was no mention of those promises in the budget. 2 crore jobs annually, doubling the income of farmers, permanent houses for all by 2022, 100 SMART CITIES, all these promises have not been fulfilled till date. 2. How did the agricultural growth rate which was 4.6% in 2014 become 1.8% this year? During UPA, our agriculture used to grow at an average of 4%, why did it halve? Why are 31 farmers forced to commit suicide every day? 3. How did the education budget which was 4.55% of the total budget in 2014 fall to 3.2%? 4. Why is the share of SC, ST, OBC & MINORITY WELFARE continuously falling compared to the total budget? 5. Why is the defense budget and health budget continuing to decline? 6. The word ‘Jobs’ has been used only once in the entire budget. Why is unemployment the highest in 45 years? Why is unemployment among 20-24 year old youth at 45%? Why did Modi government snatch the jobs of more than 3 crore people? Why are papers leaked every month? 7. Everyone is troubled by skyrocketing inflation. Why 5% to 18% GST imposed on essential goods? Why are the prices of flour, pulses, rice, milk and vegetables increasing? There is no one to tell this. 8. The Finance Minister claims that the income of the common man has increased. This is a lie, it is true that wages in rural India have decreased in the last 5 years. Rural wages have fallen instead of increasing in the last 10 years. 9. The Finance Minister did not even mention the name of MNREGA in the entire budget speech. Because during the time of UPA, work was available for 100 days, now it is reduced to only 48 days in a year. 10. This government has also reduced the budget of the Ministry of Women and Child Development in comparison to the total budget. Why has Female Labor Force Participation, which was 30% in 2005, fallen to 24% now? 11. Why did the country’s average economic growth rate, which according to the New Series, was 8% during Congress-UPA, drop to 5.6% in this government? Ever since the Modi government was formed, only big dreams are being shown. Schemes are launched by changing names. But it is not told what happened to the old promises? How will the new dreams being shown be fulfilled? Actually, any budget has two functions: one is the details of the last year and the other is the vision for the coming year. Both these things were MISSING in this budget.

The Samjwadi leader and former chief minister of Uttar Pradesh Akhilesh Yadav while expressing his views on the interim budget wrote on X criticizing the BJP government :

If any budget is not for development and any development is not for the people then it is useless. The BJP government has created a shameful record by completing a decade of anti-people budgets, which will never be broken again because now is the time for a positive government to come. This is BJP’s ‘farewell budget’.