Bahujan Samajwadi Party chief Mayawati, on Wednesday, took a veiled jibe at the Centre for its Union Budget presented in Parliament and said that it should be for the country instead of being for a party.
“Whenever the Centre talks about the beneficiaries of a scheme, it must remember that India is a vast country of about 130 crore poor people, labourers, deprived citizens, farmers etc. who are yearning for their Amrit Kaal. It is better if the budget is more for the country than for a party,” BSP chief Mayawati said in a series of tweets.
Taking to Twitter, Mayawati said that the presented budget was very much similar to the ones presented in the last nine years with huge promises and announcements being showered on the common citizens.
“All the promises, announcements, claims and expectations showered by the Centre in its budget during the last nine years became meaningless (bemani) when the middle-class section of India became lower middle class due to inflation, poverty, and unemployment,” she said, adding that the Union Budget 2023 was not different.
“This year’s budget is not much different. No government tells its shortcomings of the last year but lines the people up with new promises. People live on hopes, but why give false hopes?” she said.
The BSP chief further said that the narrow policies of the government had the biggest side effects on the lives of the people connected to rural India.
Terming rural India as the real India, Mayawati said that the “narrow policies” and “wrong thinking” of the government had the biggest side effects on the lives of crores of poor farmers and other hardworking people connected with rural India.
“The government should pay attention to their self-respect and self-reliance so that the pockets of the common man are filled and the country can develop further,” she added.
Reacting to the budget, Uttar Pradesh Congress Committee president Brijlal Khabri said that the budget was completely anti-middle class, anti-workers, anti-farmers, anti-youth, anti-women and anti-students.
“Once again, through the budget, there is only an attempt to cover up the old jumlas of the Bharatiya Janata Party. The budget is a complete atrocity and deception on the interests of the general public,” he said.
The UPCC chief said that this was an election budget and it had nothing for the farmers. “The budget does not talk about minimum support price (MSP) for the farmers. Railways have been completely ignored. More than half of the population lives in rural areas but nothing has been done for them. This is a very disappointing budget. Change in tax slab is good, but the government should tell what has been given to the poor, the farmers and the unemployed,” he said.
The UP Congress president said that it was unfortunate that Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman did not say anything on big promises like housing for every poor, doubling of farmers' income, bullet train, two crore jobs annually for the youth, women's safety.
“On the one hand, the budget is focused on some big capitalists, and on the other, it is completely pessimistic and is going to take the development of the country into the abyss,” he said.