NEW DELHI, Feb 10: The treasury and opposition benches sparred on Monday in the Lok Sabha over the Union Budget with the opposition members saying it offered a mere “sugar rush” in tax relief without any long-term benefits, while the ruling side defended it as “booster shot” for the economy.
Participating in the debate on the Union Budget in the Lower House, opposition members expressed concern on issues like the depreciating rupee value, rising government debt and farmers’ plight. They said that the budget was “election-centric” and ignored the interests of a vast majority of the population.
DMK’s Dayanidhi Maran said preference has been given to the corporates and not the common man. He claimed that prices of essential commodities were going up which was hurting the interests of the poor and the middle classes.
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The DMK leader also accused the Modi government of coming out with budgets in successive years that have focused on poll-bound states keeping in mind political gains.
Taking a swipe at the finance minister, he said whenever the opposition flags the falling value of the rupee, Nirmala Sitharaman always responds by saying the rupee is not getting weaker but the USD is emerging stronger.
Referring to the outcome of the Delhi Assembly polls, he said the tax benefit proposed in the Union Budget for the middle class helped the BJP. But, Maran said, that less than three crore people will actually benefit in the country.
He said the tax relief for the middle class was like an “economic sugar rush” which was untenable in the long run. Dubbing the budgetary provision as “unjust”, he said it does not take care of the interests of people.
The debate on the Union Budget began on Friday.
Congress MP Manish Tewari claimed that in the past one decade, government debts have soared which has created problems for future generations.
He described the debt on the government as “inter-generational debt”.
The Congress leader claimed that while the common man continues to face problems due to the government’s economic policies, the agriculture sector too was in bad shape. He wondered why MNREGA man days were increasing if the farm sector was prospering.
During the course of their speeches, Maran and Tewari questioned the absence of Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman. The Chair said the minister of state for Finance was present and the FM herself was in the Rajya Sabha.
Maran claimed that since the FM was not personally present, his party would boycott her reply to the debate.
BJP MP Anurag Thakur hailed the budget a “force multiplier”.
“Rahul Gandhi is calling the budget a ‘band-aid budget’. I want to tell him that this is not a band-aid budget but a ‘booster shot’ budget. It is a force multiplier…,” he said.
The Hamirpur MP spoke about the measures taken by the government to enable start-ups in the country and alleged that Congress is busy with “its own start-up”.
“How many times it has been launched…,” he said, taking a dig at Congress leaders.
NCP MP Supriya Sule welcomed the tax rebate but maintained that “all is not well”.
“I urge this government that all is not good, the economy is slowing down, you have given a good tax rebate I welcome that but at the same time, I am not sure that it is going to deliver superior results as the government is expecting.
“I request the government to introspect… just winning elections does not mean all is well,” Sule said.
TMC leader Kalyan Banerjee alleged that the budget was anti-people and destructive for the country’s economy. He also opposed the proposal to increase the foreign direct investment (FDI) limit in the insurance sector.
“The budget ignores the immediate challenges of growing unemployment, inflation and inequality,” he said adding the income tax benefit will help only a limited number of people.
He also accused the Centre of neglecting West Bengal. “If you ignore us, the West Bengal people will give answers in 2026 (assembly elections),” he said.
Aam Aadmi Party MP Gurmeet Singh Meet Hayer accused the Central Government of ignoring Punjab’s farmers.
The Sangrur MP said that the government has miserably failed in areas like per capita income, GDP and the depreciating value of the rupee against the dollar. He pointed out that India lags significantly in per capita income.
“In India, the income of only a handful of people has increased, while the general population’s income growth has been negligible. The condition of the common man is aptly described by the saying ‘amdani athani, kharcha rupaiya’,” he said.
Mocking the income tax slab, he remarked that the vast majority of the country’s population is entirely excluded from its benefits.
Commenting on the depreciating rupee value, Hayer sarcastically noted that BJP leaders used to say 10 years ago that the “rupee is in the ICU” but now under their rule, the rupee’s condition against the dollar is at its weakest.
Iqra Choudhary (SP) said that the budget is only a headline-grabbing document as it has neglected, farmers, youth and poor.
“It is not an inclusive Budget,” she said adding no steps have been taken to reduce unemployment.
She demanded an increase of MPLAD funds from Rs 5 crore to Rs 25 crore.
Congress MP Amrinder Singh Raja Warring said that the budget would only help the rich and was election-centric.
He demanded an increase in wages under MNREGA to Rs 600 and a legal guarantee of 200 days of wage employment. (PTI)
