FM mentioned word 'poor' only twice in Budget speech; Chidambaram calls it 'most capitalist Budget'

Former Finance Minister and senior Congress leader P Chidambaram slammed Modi government for the most capitalist Budget India has ever seen.

Talking to media, Chidambaram said that the Budget does not address any of the burning issues Indian economy faces today whether it is unemployment, agrarian crisis, malnutrition or lack of skilled workforce.

“The government behaves and acts as though it is on the right path and has delivered on the issues that matter to the common people. This is false. This is also bull-headed obduracy. This also reflects the government’s contemptuous disregard of the burdens and sufferings of the people,” said Chidambaram.

Saying that the Budget does not make any sense for 99.9 per cent people of India, Chidambaram attacked Finance Minister, Nirmala Sitharaman for ignoring the present crisis, and planning for 'Amrit Kaal' in the Budget.

He termed it as a “mockery of the poor.”

“Finance Minister was outlining a plan for the next 25 years, which she called the Amrit Kaal! The government seems to believe that the present does not need any attention and the people living in the present can be asked to wait patiently until the Amrit Kaal dawns. This is nothing but mocking the people of India, especially the poor and the deprived,” said Chidambaram.

Highlighting that not a single word was used about cash assistance to the poor, those who lost their jobs or about reviving MSMEs, Chidambaram added, “By any standard, today’s budget speech was the most capitalist speech ever read by a Finance Minister. The FM has mastered the jargon of capitalist economics.”

“Read her speech again: count the number of times she used the words digital, portal, IT-based, paperless, database, ecosystem, global, atmanirbhar. The word ‘poor’ occurs twice in paragraph 6, and we thank the FM for remembering that there are poor people in this country,” said the Former Finance Minister.

The senior Congress leader came down heavily on the Modi government for taking away subsidy which he said “has been cut by a humongous 27 per cent."

“This is the unkindest cut in this budget. The FM may have forgotten the poor, but the poor have long memories.”

Though the Congress leader criticised the Budget, he welcomed the proposal to increase capital expenditure.

“Parliament may vote for this Budget because the ruling party has a brute majority in the Lok Sabha, but the people will reject this capitalist Budget,” said Chidambram.