No new ideas, band-aid for bullet wounds: Rahul Gandhi on Union Budget | India News
An unimpressed opposition said the BJP govt’s Budget had “no new ideas”, with Congress saying finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman was walking a “worn-out path” and not willing to break free as Congress govts had done in 1991 and 2004.
Congress said the Budget had nothing to address the “illnesses” of stagnant real wages and a complicated GST system among other concerns.”A band-aid for bullet wounds. Amid global uncertainty, solving our economic crisis demanded a paradigm shift. But this govt is bankrupt of ideas,” leader of opposition in LS Rahul Gandhi said.
Former FM P Chidambaram cautioned that the “stranglehold of govt on the activities of the people was getting tighter”, adding that “the takeaway from Budget 2025-26 is that BJP is wooing the tax-paying middle class and the Bihar electorate”.
Kharge – the opposition leader in the Rajya Sabha – claimed the Budget was an attempt to “dupe” the people and described it as “nau sau choohe khake billi hajj ko chali” – a Hindi proverb that translates to seeking to be pious after committing a number of sins.
SP supremo Akhilesh Yadav said the Budget figures meant nothing when the government was unable to provide an accurate number of the people who had died or were missing in the Maha Kumbh stampede.
Trinamool MP Abhishek Banerjee said the Budget had “nothing for common people” and was presented with the Bihar polls in mind. “As far as West Bengal is concerned, it has not got anything in the last 10 years, nor was there anything today. This is unfortunate,” he added.
RJD leader Tejashwi Yadav accused the govt of indulging in “rhetoric and repackaging” announcements made in the past, while slamming CM Nitish Kumar for failing to secure a fair deal for Bihar. “Just look at TDP chief Chandrababu Naidu, who has secured benefits of Rs 1 lakh crore for Andhra Pradesh. The Budget presented today is silent on any such help for Bihar,” he said.
DMK MP Dayanidhi Maran called the Budget a “big letdown”, especially for middle classes. “The finance minister claims she is giving tax exemption up to Rs 12 lakh, but the very next line was, there is 10% tax slab for Rs 8 to Rs 10 lakh income. Since Bihar elections are coming, there are a lot of announcements for the state, again fooling the people of Bihar,” he added.
CPM politburo described the Budget as a “cruel betrayal of the requirements of the people of India”.
