Centre, Opposition face off in Parliament over Budget

In both Houses of Parliament, the Opposition attacked the budget for excluding non-NDA ruled States, calling it an exercise in appeasing allies

In both Houses of Parliament, the Opposition attacked the government, accusing it of presenting a “discriminatory budget” that excluded the non-National Democratic Alliance (NDA)-ruled States. Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman issued a strong rebuttal to this in Rajya Sabha, hitting out at the Opposition for deliberately maligning the government, and giving a wrong impression that some States had been left out.

The Rajya Sabha saw a sharp exchange of words between the two sides on Wednesday morning. The Opposition staged a walkout in protest. Congress president and Leader of the Opposition in the Rajya Sabha Mallikarjun Kharge said that only two States had benefited from the Union Budget, presented on Tuesday. He said it was a budget aimed solely at safeguarding the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-led NDA government. “I condemn all this. Opposition party-ruled States have been neglected. How will development happen if there is no balance? I condemn this and all the parties condemn this type of attitude,” Mr. Kharge said.

Ms. Sitharaman reacted strongly to the accusation, saying that all the States could not be named in the budget, and the Congress, which had been in power for long, should know better than to make such an allegation. The finer details about scheme-wise allocations were available for all to see in the budget documents, she said.

“The Cabinet, under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, decided to set up a port at Vadhavan (in Maharashtra’s Palghar district), but Maharashtra’s name was not included in the budget [speech] yesterday. Does this mean that Maharashtra should feel ignored?” she said, adding that ₹76,000 crore had been allocated for this project.

“This is a deliberate attempt of the Opposition parties led by the Congress to give the people the wrong impression that their States were not allocated funds or schemes,” Ms. Sitharaman said. “I would challenge the Congress party to show that in every budget speech they have delivered, all the States have been listed out. This is an outrageous allegation,” she added.

Later in the afternoon, initiating the debate, former Finance Minister and Rajya Sabha MP P. Chidambaram criticised the special treatment to Andhra Pradesh and Bihar in the budget. “I don’t grudge at all that you are giving relief to Andhra Pradesh or Bihar, but what about the other States? We are a federal country. This is the death knell of federalism if you pick and choose among States. You are the Union of India, you are the Union government, you are the government of all the States. You cannot pick and choose one State and deny relief to another State,” Mr. Chidambaram said.

While unemployment is the biggest challenge for the government, Mr. Chidambaram said that the government’s latest employment-linked scheme did not instil confidence and will be another election jumla (insincere promise).