Airing criticisms which looked more like mere presentation of clichés and rhetoric than sincere complaints based on the State’s aspirations, Kerala’s major political parties except the BJP expressed unhappiness over Finance Minister Arun Jaitley’s alleged refusal to address in his Budget for 2014-15 the State’s important demands.
The left, in particular, attacked the Budget by saying that it proved that the NDA Government was following the same economic policies the UPA had pursued during its ten-year rule. “They are one and the same as far as economic policies are concerned,” said TM Thomas Isaac, the economist leader of the CPI(M) and former State Finance Minister.
All parties welcomed the proposal to allot one of the five IITs the Centre planned to set up in the country to Kerala. The former UPA regime had kept on promising an IIT to Kerala but had never done so despite its long rule and the presence of eight Ministers from Kerala in it. However, they complained that the Budget did not make allocation for the Vizhinjam port project.
Other proposals for financial allocations for Kerala in the Union Budget included Rs462.17 crore for the Kochi Metro Rail project, Rs27.84 crore for the Port Trust, Kochi, Rs41 crore for Cochin Shipyard, Rs157 crore for the Rubber Board, Rs82 crore for the coir sector and Rs67 crore for development of drinking water supply networks.
Independent observers said that Kerala should appreciate the allotment of an IIT to it and should view with hope Jaitley’s announcement that existing medical colleges would be upgraded in states to which AIIMSes were not allotted. It should also invest trust in the Finance Minister’s promise that AIIMSes could be allotted to more states in the future.
The left attacked the Budget saying that proposals like disinvestment in public sector banks and opening of crucial sectors like Defence and insurance to FDI proved that the NDA Government was following the same path the former UPA regime had been pursuing despite the fact that the people had rejected the Congress mainly because of its economic policies.
“The approach of Jaitley’s Union Budget conforms to the UPA’s economic style in all significant sectors,” said Isaac. “Indications are already there that more burdens could fall on the common man’s shoulders even outside the Budget. There is a definite move to review the food subsidy system existing in the country,” he said.
Questioning the rationale behind the decision to allow private participation in public sector banks, Isaac said, “Corporate companies have caused accrual of huge NPAs for these banks. If the Government decides to compulsorily collect it, it would come almost to the same money Jaitley is planning to raise by selling 49 percent of public sector bank shares.”
Terming the Union Budget as disappointing, CPI(M)’s State secretary Pinarayi Vijayan alleged that the BJP-led Government was intensively trying to implement the globalization policy of the UPA. He added that Jaitley’s Budget did not contain any proposals to control the rising prices of essential commodities.
“We have not been against private capital or FDI but we have always held that there should be a lakshman Rekha for that but the NDA doesn’t seem to think so,” said Congress MP and former Minister KC Venugopal. “If they are saying that they are doing what the UPA had done, they should make clear whether they are following our policies,” he said.
However, the State BJP defended the Budget saying that the left was criticizing it due to their blind opposition to liberalization and the Congress was being hypocritical. “The Budget has indeed taken into consideration farmers and marginalized sections like the Dalits and has given equal importance to the aspirations of all regions of India,” said BJP leader VV Rajesh.