A day after the presentation of the Union Budget 2020, Punjab Pradesh Congress Committee president Sunil Jakhar on Sunday said that the anti-Punjab face of the Narendra Modi Government was exposed “once again”.
“Union Cabinet has got three Ministers from Punjab but they failed in getting any major allocation earmarked for the State that faced fiscal debts due to 10-year-long SAD-BJP misrule,” said Jakhar while asking if they were in New Delhi only to protect their own berths in the Cabinet.
Jakhar said that the Central Government had ignored the State Government’s request to make provision for funds to celebrate Guru Teg Bahadur’s 400-year Gurpurb. Earlier, the Centre did not help Punjab in celebrating Guru Nanak Dev’s 550th birth anniversary,” he said.
The budget presented in the Parliament by the Modi Government missed plans to improve the condition of farmers, labourer and other weaker sections, no attempt has been made to bailout economic slowdown, he said.
Jakhar said that the country was reeling under severe economic crisis at present but there was no policy or intention to address these issues in the Budget. “Rural India has been left unattended. Only flimsy talks were offered for the farmers, they have nothing to cheer about,” he added.
He said that the Modi Government was showering concessions only on the big entrepreneurs which will neither increase production, nor reduce unemployment or recession.
Criticising the plan to sell Government stake in a profit-driven institution like LIC, Jakhar said that the BJP was running the government by selling assets. The Government should give a modest waiver in direct taxes, closing the other exemptions will bring the situation back to the same stage, he said.
Jakhar further said that the Union Government has made the Direct Tax regime as difficult to understand as it made earlier GST regime, and the taxpayers were unable to understand the new tax regime.
“Once again, the Union Finance Minister has promised to double farmers’ income in the next two years, but nothing was actually done for the farmers. While talking about the solar pump scheme announced in the budget speech, Punjab was one way out of this scheme by adding condition of barren land with solar pump scheme,” he said.