Finance Minister Arun Jaitley presented the Union Budget for FY 2017-18 in Parliament on Wednesday. Ever since, the political circuit has been abuzz with diverse reactions. While West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee termed the budget “misleading”, Bihar CM Nitish Kumar called it “disappointing”. RJD chief Lalu Prasad Yadav went on to call Prime Minister Narendra Modi the “Indian Trump.”
Mamata Banerjee, West Bengal CM
Mamata Banerjee ripped the Budget apart, calling it “clueless” and “useless”
Keeping up its protest against demonetisation, Banerjee’s party Trinamool Congress on Monday had decided not to attend Parliament on the first two days of the session which began on Tuesday with the President’s address.
Rahul Gandhi, Congress Vice President
“We were expecting fireworks, instead it was a damp squib. It is just ‘sher-o shayari’ in the budget. There is nothing for farmers and youth and nothing for job creation. There is no clear vision.”
Lalu Yadav, RJD Chief
RJD chief Lalu Prasad too was critical of the Budget and said that it was anti-poor, anti-farmer and anti-youth.
He asked, “Why has the central government failed to inform how much employment it provided to youths last year as Modi had promised to bring in two crore jobs each year... What about special focus to help farmers, who have been committing suicide?”
Nitish Kumar, Bihar CM
Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar said the Budget was “disappointing”.
“The Budget has disappointed the people. There is nothing that could speed up growth and development in the country. It is not going to help the common people, farmers and the youths... Bihar got nothing new in the budget,” Kumar told the media.
Kumar also questioned the Centre's silence over how much black money returned to the banks after demonetisation.
“Why has Finance Minister Arun Jaitley not given any information about how much black money returned following demonetisation and the benefits of demonetisation?”
Communist Party of India
The Communist Party of India panned the Union Budget for being pro-corporate and said it reflected the casual approach of the Narendra Modi government in taking on the crisis-ridden economy.
“The Union budget including the railway budget contains nothing concrete for the common people but all indications that while lower income sections will be further burdened and its real patrons, the corporate houses will be given all facilities and concessions,” the party said in a statement.
Ravi Shankar Prasad, BJP
Law Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad was gung ho about the “uttam” budget.
“It’s a historic budget. The Finance Minister has tried to fix tax evasion. By introducing various measures on political funding and by trying to bring more and more people under the taxation system, the government has made an effort to make the country honest,” he told the media.
Sharad Yadav, JD-U
Senior Janata Dal-United leader Sharad Yadav lashed out saying the Budget and said it is “anti-poor and anti-farmer”.
“The budget does talk about farmers, the unemployed youths and most importantly government's scheme of demonetisation,” he told IANS.
Yadav also criticised the government for merging the Railway budget and the general budget, and said it was done “unnecessarily”.
Amit Shah, BJP National President
It is the “beginning of a new era” for national BJP chief Amit Shah who congratulated Modi for bringing “transparency in politics”.
“Modi has fulfilled his promise made in 2014 to bring in transparency. Cash donation to political parties has been reduced to Rs 2,000 from Rs 20,000... This Budget is women and poor-friendly. For farmers, there is a significant increase in allocation in the total amount of loans, which has been expanded up to Rs 10 lakh crore.”
Uddhav Thackeray, Shiv Sena
The Shiv Sena chief, while addressing the media on Wednesday, questioned Modi’s promise of ‘achhe din’.
“When their (BJP) government came at the centre, they promised ‘achhe din’. Where are the ‘achhe din’? Why don’t they talk about it now?
He also said, “After demonetisation, it was claimed that terror attacks will fall but instead they have increased.”
Dimple Yadav, SP
“I am not satisfied with this budget. It is directionless and lacks vision to transform the country,” said Samajwadi Party leader Dimple Yadav told IANS outside Parliament.
Dimple, daughter-in-law of SP patriarch Mulayam Singh Yadav, also said, “This government has neglected the farmers, youths and especially the women of the country. There is nothing in the budget for them.”
Manish Sisodia, Deputy CM of Delhi
Delhi’s Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia took to Twitter to express anguish over depriving Delhi of its due share.
Anand Sharma, Congress
“The Budget is lacking in direction and has no proposal for accelerating manufacturing or creation of jobs.”
(With inputs from IANS)
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