Opposition Slams 'Weak' Budget; ‘Band-Aid For Bullet Wounds’, Says Rahul Gandhi

New Delhi: The Union Budget 2025-26 was presented in Parliament on Saturday amid an Opposition uproar, demanding a discussion on the massive tragedy following a stampede in the ongoing Mahakumbh in Prayagraj, Uttar Pradesh, which has so far claimed up to 50 lives, as per unofficial estimates.

While the Budget presented by Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman brought some relief to a section of the middle class, a part of the miniscule 2% total income tax-paying population in the  country, the Opposition slammed it as one of “weakest” in 10 years of the Narendra Modi government.

Commenting on the Budget, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi tweeted on X saying that the Budget is “A band aid for bullet wounds. Amid global uncertainty, solving our economic crisis demanded a paradigm shift. But this government is bankrupt of ideas.”

Jairam Ramesh of the Congress also slammed the Budget, while commenting on the proposal to enhance the cost norms of nutritional support schemes, such as POSHAN 2.0 and Saksham Anganwadi “after many years of turning down this demand”, questioned why the government had not spelt out the inclusion of breakfast in schools, the provision of a glass of milk, citing the scheme being run by the Congress government in Karnataka, as well as a hike in the honorarium for Anganwadi workers and helpers.

“What kind of investment in people is the Finance Minister envisioning without these basic provisions?”, he asked in a post on X.

The Communist Party of India (Marxist), in a series of X posts, termed the Budget as a “push by the rich for the rich” as well as for privatisation, especially of the insurance sector by hiking foreign direct investment to 100%, in the mining sector as well as nuclear energy.

The CPI(M) also termed as a “betrayal” of the common people as the Modi government had not increased the allocation for the rural job guarantee scheme, MGNREGS, which has been stagnating at Rs 86,000 crore, despite huge demand. It also condemned the absence of any outlay for Minimum Support Price (MSP) or the legal guarantee being demanded by protesting farmers. This is despite the government claiming “agriculture” as one of the four engines of Viksit Bharat.

It also noted that the government had spent Rs 17,000 crore less than the previous Budget on Scheduled Tribes, which was a “betrayal” of the country’s tribal population.

Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) convenor Arvind Kejriwal lashed out at the Centre for not waiving home and vehicle loans of the middle class and farmers, as well as reduction in goods and services tax by half.

“A large part of the country’s treasury is spent of waiving off loans of a few rich billionaires. I had demanded that it be announced in the budget that from now on, the loans of any billionaire will not be waived…this was not done.”

Trinamool Congress MP Abhishek Banerjee alleged that the Budget was designed with an eye on the Bihar Assembly elections due later this year, and decried that West Bengal got nothing in it.

“There is nothing for the common man in the budget….the budget has been presented for Bihar. Everything has been given to Bihar….When the (interim) budget was presented in July 2024, everything was done for Andhra Pradesh and Bihar. For the last 10 years, BJP has been in power and Bengal has not got anything, it is sad and unfortunate,” he was quoted as saying by the Times of India.

 Samajwadi party MP Dimple yada said there was “nothing new” in the Budget, while Shiromani Akali Dal MP Harsimrat Kaur Badal said it was “anti-farmer” and “all about Bihar”. She said farmers protesting for MSP were ignored and Punjab was not even mentioned.

Dayanidhi Maran, a Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) MP said the Budget “seems designed to woo Delhi voters before elections. The Finance Minister announced tax exemptions up to ₹12 lakh but also mentioned a 10% slab for ₹8 lakh-₹12 lakh. The devil is in the details.”