Kamal Nath slams 'disappointing' Budget

Bhopal, Feb 1 Former Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister and state Congress President Kamal Nath has termed the Union Budget as "disappointing".

Reacting to the Union government's General Budget, Nath said, "The people of the country had high hopes from this General Budget which came today during the critical coronavirus pandemic crisis, but this Budget has led to a lot of disappointment among the people."

The former MP Chief Minister said, "In view of the collapsed economy during the pandemic, no provision has been made in this Budget to provide relief to the common man. The largest section of community, the farmers in the country, have been agitating on the streets for their rights for more than two months now. There is nothing in this Budget for the farmers, only false promises, once again the years-old promise of doubling their incomes. First the move of ending the 'mandi' system with the new farm laws and now false promises to strengthen the 'mandi' system in the budget today. These are just misleading promises."

Referring to the deepening crisis in employment caused by the coronavirus pandemic, Nath said that a large number of youth have lost their jobs after the pandemic and there is nothing in this Budget for employment of youth.

Nath levelled allegations at the Centre and said, "Years-old announcements have been repeated in this Budget once again. The slogan of those people who said they will not sell the country, today their slogan is they will sell everything, this is clearly visible in this Budget."

Referring to no mention of the poor and middle class in this Budget, Nath said, "There is nothing in this Budget for the poor and the middle class. Income tax exemption was expected, but the exemption was not increased. This Budget is an inflationary budget. In view of the rising prices of petrol, diesel and cooking gas, people were expecting a huge relief in the middle of the coronavirus situation, but the public has been cheated once again."

Nath also lashed out at the slogan of 'Aatmanirbharta' (self-reliance), saying, "Like the old slogan of 'Make in India' and 'Digital India', now the Budget has been misleading the people of the country by manipulating the statistics with new slogan of 'Aatmanirbharta'.

"Those who opposed FDI are now implementing it in every sector today. This Budget is completely 'anti-people' and 'disappointing'," he said.

( With inputs from IANS )