‘BJP wooing middle class, Bihar’: P Chidambaram, Congress leaders slam Union Budget 2025

The Congress person pointed to shortfalls successful fiscal show for the existent twelvemonth (2024-25), highlighting a chopped of ₹1.04 lakh crore successful full expenditure and ₹92,682 crore successful superior expenditure. Critical sectors specified arsenic health, education, agrarian development, and societal payment bore the brunt of these reductions, helium said astatine the presser.

The instrumentality distant from Budget 2025-26 is that the BJP is wooing the taxation paying mediate people and the Bihar electorate. These announcements volition beryllium welcomed by the 3.2 crore taxation paying mediate people and the 7.65 crore voters of Bihar. For the remainder of India, the Hon’ble Finance Minister… pic.twitter.com/fQN19nwfz9

— Congress (@INCIndia) February 1, 2025

“The cruelest cuts,” Chidambaram added, “were successful allocations for SCs, STs, OBCs, and minorities,” citing drastic reductions successful schemes specified arsenic the PM Anysuchit Jaati Abhyuday Yojana, the Post Matric Scholarship for SCs, and the Programme for Development of STs.

The cruelest cuts were successful allocations for the SC, ST, OBC and minorities.

Examples

PM Anysuchit Jaati Abhyuday Yojana

• BE 2024-25 : Rs 2,140 crore
• RE 2024-25 : Rs 800 crore

PM Young Achievers Scholarship for OBC, EBC, DNTs.… pic.twitter.com/sbSei60TxT

— Congress (@INCIndia) February 1, 2025

“The authorities claims to person improved the fiscal shortage to 4.8% from 4.9%, but this was achieved astatine a immense outgo to the economy,” helium said, questioning the government’s quality to conscionable its superior expenditure targets.

Chidambaram claimed that the authorities has abandoned galore of flagship programmes “that were erstwhile announced with overmuch fanfare” and added that the quality to instrumentality these schemes has besides declined.

The erstwhile concern curate besides noted that neither Nirmala Sitharaman nor the Prime Minister had heeded the Chief Economic Adviser’s recommendations successful the Economic Survey, which urged the authorities to measurement backmost and let the backstage assemblage to thrust growth.

“The FM is walking connected the worn-out path. She is not consenting to interruption escaped arsenic we did successful 1991 and 2004. She is not consenting to de-regulate. She is not consenting to get retired of the mode of the people, particularly the entrepreneurs and the MSMEs and the start-ups,” helium said.

Chidambaram concluded by stating that astatine best, this Budget volition support the system moving on the aforesaid sluggish path, delivering nary much than a 6 to 6.5% maturation complaint successful 2025-26.

“That, successful our view, is simply a authorities with nary caller ideas and nary volition to scope beyond its grasp,” helium concluded.

The Opposition has framed the Union Budget 2025-26 arsenic a pre-election sop strategy, targeting cardinal elector bases portion ignoring structural economical concerns. As Bihar heads to polls aboriginal this year, Congress leaders spot the Budget arsenic a BJP bid to triumph implicit important authorities votes alternatively than addressing semipermanent economical challenges. “A travel show” is what the enactment has called the Budget.

A Flop Show pic.twitter.com/JMlgIK3k9o

— Congress (@INCIndia) February 1, 2025

Congress person Rahul Gandhi took to Twitter, calling the Budget a “band-aid for slug wounds.” He criticised the government’s deficiency of structural reforms and said, “Amid planetary uncertainty, solving our economical situation demanded a paradigm shift. But this authorities is bankrupt of ideas.”

Shashi Tharoor asks astir jobs

Senior Congress person Shashi Tharoor expressed interest implicit the lack of cardinal economical issues successful Sitharaman’s speech. “We didn’t adjacent perceive the words ‘unemployment’ oregon ‘inflation’ from the Finance Minister today,” helium said.

Tharoor acknowledged that the mediate class, peculiarly those earning up to Rs 12 lakh, had crushed to beryllium blessed but remarked, “If you don’t person a job, it’s unclear from this Budget wherever the occupation opportunities volition travel from.” He besides accused the BJP of utilizing the Budget to summation electoral mileage successful Bihar, contempt advocating ‘One Nation, One Election.’

We didn’t adjacent perceive the words “unemployment” oregon “inflation” from the Finance Minister today. It was a mercifully abbreviated speech, but she didn’t notation either of those words, which is not truthful merciful.

The information is, if you person a occupation and gain Rs 12 lakh oregon less, there’s every… pic.twitter.com/LovBKyXYgw

— Congress (@INCIndia) February 1, 2025

Jairam Ramesh: ‘What person the locals got?’

Congress person Jairam Ramesh labelled the Budget an workout successful grabbing headlines. “Vocals person got relief, but what person the locals got?” helium asked.

He pointed to stagnant wages, a declining complaint of backstage investment, and a burdensome GST operation arsenic cardinal economical issues ignored successful the Budget. “Mass depletion and the complaint of backstage concern person not increased; GST has go complicated, and it has go a burden. There are unbridled imports from China, which are destroying the MSME sector,” Ramesh added.

Vocals person got relief, but what person the locals got?

In the past 10 years, existent wage rates person stagnated. Mass depletion and the complaint of backstage concern person not increased; GST has go complicated, and it has go a burden. There are unbridled imports from China,… pic.twitter.com/Quf56TVBOr

— Congress (@INCIndia) February 1, 2025

Slamming Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Ramesh called him a “Headlinejivi” Prime Minister, stating, “But erstwhile the world begins to descend in, radical volition realise this fund doesn’t code the existent issues of inequality, terms rise, MGNREGA, stagnant wages, deficiency of backstage investment, taxation terrorism, and state from taxation authorities.”

He concluded his remarks with a question: “What did the locals, the farmers, the workers, and the tiny businesses get?”