By Express News Service
NEW DELHI: The Opposition has termed the Union Budget a ‘zero-sum’ Budget, having nothing for the common people, and said that the Centre has forgotten to implement previous announcements. Congress leader Rahul Gandhi said there is nothing for anyone. “Nothing for salaried class, middle class, the poor & deprived, youth, farmers, MSMEs,” he tweeted.
Former finance minister and veteran Congress leader P Chidambaram said the government behaves and acts as though it is on the right path and has delivered on the issues that matter to the common people. “This is false. This is also bull-headed obduracy. This reflects the government’s contemptuous disregard of the burdens and sufferings of the people.”
West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee said the Budget has zero for common people, who are getting crushed by unemployment and inflation. “The government is lost in big words signifying nothing, a Pegasus spin Budget,” she said.
Attacking the Centre for working for the rich and industrialists, CPI(M) general secretary Sitaram Yechury said, “Budget for whom? The richest 10 per cent of Indians own 64.6 per cent of the country’s wealth. Bottom 60 per cent own less than 5 per cent. Why are those who amassed super-profits during the pandemic, while joblessness, poverty & hunger have grown, not being taxed more?”
Alleging that the Centre has forgotten to implement its old announcements, Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) chief Mayawati said the Union Budget has been brought to woo the public with new and false promises. “The Union Budget presented in the Parliament today has been brought to woo the public with new promises, while the implementation of the past promises and old announcements have been forgotten.
How appropriate is it? Why is the Centre free from worries of poverty, unemployment, inflation and suicides by farmers,” she tweeted. Terming it as “disappointing”, JD(U) parliamentary board chairman Upendra Kushwaha said, “The Union Budget is historic for the developed states but for a state like Bihar, it is disappointing”.
‘Nothing for common man’
Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal said that the Union Budget for 2022-23 has nothing for the citizens. He said people had high expectations from the Union Budget, but there is nothing in it either for the common people or to check inflation.
