The ruling Bharatiya Janata Party welcomed the Union budget, while the opposition parties criticised it, saying it was disappointing for the people of all walks of life particularly the poor, youth and the farmers.
The Samajwadi Party criticised the budget, saying it was directionless and inflationary and the Narendra Modi government had ignored the interests of the middle class, the worst hit by the two-year-long spell of COVID-19 pandemic.
SP chief Akhilesh Yadav said here on Tuesday that the budget had proved that the BJP had little concern for the plight of the common man. He said the recession in the economy due to the pandemic had destroyed millions of small businesses, devastating millions of people.
“The people had used their savings for their survival but the budget has proved to be another disaster for them as far from mitigating their woes it will fuel inflation,” he said.
The SP chief said no relief measure had been announced in the budget for the common man. “`People had pinned high hopes from the budget like relief in income tax. But there is no such thing as the priority of the BJP government is the corporate and big business houses,” the SP president charged.
Raising the issues of farmers, Akhilesh Yadav said, “There is no mention of giving legal guarantee for MSP to the farmers and also no mention of providing jobs to the youths.”
He alleged that the BJP governments’ sole focus in the Union budget was winning the assembly elections in five states.
SP general secretary Ram Gopal Yadav said, “It is the most directionless and disappointing budget and I will rate it three on a scale of ten.”
Criticising the reduction in custom duty on diamonds, he said the government seemed to believe that the poor women were the main customers of the diamonds.
Bahujan Samaj Party chief Mayawati said the Union budget was brought to woo the public with new promises and alleged that the Centre had forgotten to implement the old announcements.
Pragatisheel Samajwadi Party (Lohia) president Shivpal Singh Yadav also criticised the budget, saying no relief had been announced for the middle class, particularly for the salaried class. Moreover, he said, no relief had been announced for women in the budget.