The Union Budget elicited mixed reactions from political parties, with the main Opposition BJP terming it “directionless” and “completely devoid of reforms”. The Congress, however, hailed it as “balanced, progressive, inclusive, growth-oriented and dynamic”.
Claiming that the Budget brought no relief to the common man, the BJP said it has no measure mentioned to contain inflation. Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha Sushma Swaraj said: “It is a conservative Budget. It does not reflect a big thought. Only a ritual has been performed.” Her counterpart in the Rajya Sabha Arun Jaitley termed it “unimaginative” and “lacking big ideas”. Senior BJP leader and former finance minister Yashwant Sinha said the Budget was “completely devoid of reforms” and “nothing in it is for the aam aadmi”. The party said the Budget proposals had no plans to eradicate poverty, unemployment, corruption or give a boost to the country’s infrastructure projects.
The Left parties claimed the Budget did not reflect any seriousness by the government to address the unemployment issue and large number of poor people have been excluded from subsidies. These parties were of the view that the Budget was aimed at “burdening the poor and subsidising the rich”.
Senior CPI(M) leader Sitaram Yechury said the Budget was disappointing as it has no mention of measures to curb inflation and corruption that “impose burden on people”.
“The government is encouraging money laundering and has nothing substantial to bring back the black money or preventing it,” Mr Yechury said. He added the Budget only carried forward “financial liberalisation”.