Opposition political parties across the country severely criticised the Narendra Modi government and its maiden budget presented by Finance Minister Arun Jaitley, saying that the budget was not in favour of the poor or the unemployed but only for rich peopled.
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Speaking to dna, Congress spokesperson Anant Gadgil said, “The Budget is only for big industrialists like Adani and Ambani, it is not for the common man and lacks vision. Some of the schemes are those which have already been implemented by the UPA government. When we aided madarsas we were criticised, and now the BJP government is doing the same thing by allocating 100 crore towards this.”
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AAP leader Mayank Gandhi also said that the Budget had no vision and looked like the budget of UPA-3, presented by Arun Jaitley instead of P Chidambaram. "Rather than focusing on the social sector, it has focused on war memorials and the Sardar Patel statue. While campaigning, the government had promised tax exemption of Rs 5 lakh, but now they have made it only 2.5 lakh,” he said.
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Criticising the Finance Minister, Gadgil further asked, “How is the government going to carry solar energy from Ladakh, which gets less sunshine? How do they plan to achieve agriculture growth rate at 4% in the next seven months?”
NCP spokesperson Nawab Malik said, “The Budget-2014 is travelling on the same track as earlier presented Budgets. No new tracks have been laid or created. BJP has concentrated only on FDI and dis-investment. Apart from changing names of existing programs, the government has not done anything."
What other politicians had to say
Rahul Gandhi: This Budget is all about usurping UPA ideas. There is no clear roadmap in the Budget. It is a laundry list of Rs 100 crore proposals. This Budget doesn't quicken the economic pulse, in fact it slows it down.
AK Antony: 49% FDI in defense is a threat to national security, it is dangerous.
Arvind Kejriwal: There are no measures to control inflation in 2014 Budget, its very disappointing.
Mallikarjun Kharge: There are no welfare measures, they have only given relief to corporates.
Mulayam Singh: The Budget is only for the rich, not for the poor or the unemployed.
Shashi Tharoor: No sense of direction or measures to improve the situation of inflation. I will have to study the figures in detail.
AM Singhvi: The nation expected much more after all the campaign promises.
Manish Tewari: High on rhetoric, short on delivery. No vision and no roadmap.
Ajay Maken: Second U-turn by Arun Jaitely. Demanded IT Limit to Rs 5 Lac but could reach to 50% at Rs 2.5 Lac. This is a Rs100 crore Budget. Unrealistic 100 crore schemes by 100 crore Finance Minister. I propose that Arun Jaitley set aside a sum of Rs100 cr for a mega event in which he can announce all his 100 crore schemes.
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