Picking holes in the general Budget, the Opposition in lok Sabha on Wednesday termed it as one missing on delivery, growth prospects and offered no gain for the common man on whom the “State was unleashed”.
It also targeted Prime Minister Narendra Modi saying he “followed” Pakistan in deciding on demonetisation and launching a surgical strike “on our own people”.
Congress leader Veerappa Moily opened the debate in the House on the Union Budget 2017-18 criticising Government’s economic policy and lashed out at demonetisation.
Attacking the Government over the controversial demonetisation, he said it has offered no gain for the common man on whom “the State was unleashed”.
He said while Modi and other BJP leaders have already begun toning down on the issue in their election speeches, they have not done so in Parliament due to “false pride”.
Reasons like fighting corruption, black money and fake currency cited by Modi to justify demonetisation were the same given by Pakistan when it took a similar decision in June 2015 and no other country which has done so ever gave such reasons, the former Union Minister said.
“It dawned on the Prime Minister that Pakistan has taken a right step. let's follow it. For the first time, we have followed Pakistan. It is unprecedented... It is not worth following Pakistan," he said.
On the Budget, he said the time was ripe for a forward-looking Budget but it turned out to be a timid one, without any will power or vision to take the country forward.
Moily said his party supported merger of plan and non-plan funds and Railway Budget with the Union Budget, saying these were good steps forward but the exercise was “messed up”. “We are not fundamentally against it.”
Opposing the Budget, TMC MP Saugata Roy said “Finance Minister Arun Jaitley has not rocked any boat” and has only treaded on a “conservative path” instead of undertaking reforms.
Government had expected a windfall of `4-5 lakh croreon account of demonetisation but as much as `15 lakh crore has come back into the banking system, the TMC leader said, adding that demonetisation has "harmed the economy".
AP Jithender Reddy (TRS) asked the Centre to start an AIIMS in Telangana, as promised under the States Reorganisation Act. He also demamded that the State be allocated more IPS and IAS officers as the number of districts has gone up.
P Venugopal (AIADMK) backed the Government for advancing the Budget date and merging the Finance and Railway Budgets. Terming the presentation of Budget as “attractive”, P Karunkaran of CPI(M) said the impact of the demonetisation has been disastrous for the people.