People will reject this ‘capitalist Budget’, says P Chidambaram

The “capitalist” Union Budget 2022-23 is “obdurate” and “callous” as there is no cash assistance to the very poor who have been pushed into extreme poverty and suffered immensely during the last two years, former Union Finance Minister P. Chidambaram said on Tuesday.

Addressing a press conference, he said: “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.”

The Budget may be passed in Parliament but will be rejected by the people, the Congress leader said.

He said that his party was astonished that Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman 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,” he said.

 

I was astonished, shocked that the Finance Minister was outlining a plan for the next 25yrs. Govt seems to believe that the present does not need any attention & the public can be asked to wait patiently until ‘Amrit Kaal’ dawns. This is mocking the people of India: P Chidambaram pic.twitter.com/S5Iq8Rypfb

— ANI (@ANI) February 1, 2022

 

 

Chidambaram accused the Finance Minister of not having a word “for those who had lost their jobs, for those whose education stopped at some stage at the school level, not a word about reviving MSMEs that had shut down, not a word about distributing more food to combat malnutrition and hunger, not a word about cutting indirect taxes, especially GST, to contain inflation and bring down the prices of goods, and not a word about giving tax relief to the tax-paying middle class or the tax-bearing head of a household”.

“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,” he said.

The former Finance Minister said that the macro-economic indicators are worrying, and on top of the list is that the fiscal deficit (FD) for 2021-22 has overshot the target of 6.8 per cent and is estimated at 6.9 per cent. For next year, it will be 6.4 per cent.

“That is an insufficient correction if the goal is to reach 4 per cent three years hence by 2025-26. The financing of the FD is also a matter of concern. 70 per cent of the FD in 2022-23 will be financed by market borrowing as against 55 per cent in the current year, crowding out private sector borrowing.”

(Only the headline and picture of this report may have been reworked by the Business Standard staff; the rest of the content is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)

Dear Reader,

Business Standard has always strived hard to provide up-to-date information and commentary on developments that are of interest to you and have wider political and economic implications for the country and the world. Your encouragement and constant feedback on how to improve our offering have only made our resolve and commitment to these ideals stronger. Even during these difficult times arising out of Covid-19, we continue to remain committed to keeping you informed and updated with credible news, authoritative views and incisive commentary on topical issues of relevance.

We, however, have a request.

As we battle the economic impact of the pandemic, we need your support even more, so that we can continue to offer you more quality content. Our subscription model has seen an encouraging response from many of you, who have subscribed to our online content. More subscription to our online content can only help us achieve the goals of offering you even better and more relevant content. We believe in free, fair and credible journalism. Your support through more subscriptions can help us practise the journalism to which we are committed.

Support quality journalism and subscribe to Business Standard.

Digital Editor