Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman has presented a “visionary” Budget with significant investments in infrastructure to put India on the growth path, BJP Lok Sabha member Jayant Sinha said on Tuesday.
Mr Sinha, a former Union Minister of State for Finance, chose to convey his arguments by tweaking the lyrics of a popular Hindi film song, and said, “Kaam kiya hain toh darna kya (whats there to fear if you have worked)”.
Participating in the discussion on the Union Budget in the Lok Sabha, the BJP member, without naming the Congress, said the Opposition has been left disillusioned as their “shrinking empire” is now been limited to Kerala.
Comparing the performance of the Narednra Modi-led NDA with the Dr. Manmohan Singh-led UPA, the BJP member said India was classified among the “fragile five” — a term used in 2013 to describe Brazil, Indonesia, India, South Africa and Turkey as investors pulled out funds from the emerging economies — during the global financial crisis of 2007-08.
“But, when Covid pandemic struck, Prime Minister and Finance Minister steered India through the crisis and put the economy on the growth path at 9.2%,” he said.
A booming stock market and increased capital inflows have ensured that India is no longer seen as part of the ‘fragile five’ by the world.
Criticising Congress member Shashi Tharoor for likening the next 25 years as Andh kaal (age of darkness) instead of Amrit Kaal (golden age) as pronounced by Mr Modi, Mr. Sinha said, “It is true... there is ‘andh kaal’ in Jharkhand and other Congress-ruled States”.
Mr. Sinha said rural roads of 36,500 km have been built under the Modi government and allocation for national highways has been pegged at ₹1.34 lakh crore. He listed out allocations for various sectors, including healthcare, MSME, semi-conductors, building digital infrastructure, start-ups among others.
“It is because of our work, the Prime Minister’s popularity is at its peak... this has surely left you disillusioned. Hence you talk of two Indias. You are unhappy because your empire is shrinking and people are with us,” he said.
RSP member N.K. Premachandran lauded the Finance Minister for not falling to the temptation of populist announcements ahead of Assembly elections in five states and for higher capital outlays .
However, he expressed disappointment over the decline in allocation to social welfare programmes and pointed out that the government should be grateful to UPA for enacting Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act and National Food Security Act that helped the government’s fight against Covid-19.
While Indian Union Muslim League member Abdussamad Samadani said the Budget would widen the gap between the rich and the poor, CPI(M) member A.M. Ariff said the Amrit Kaal mentioned by the Finance Minister in her budget speech was for corporates, who could get control of key PSUs over the next 25 years.
Mr Ariff urged the government to make provision of ₹50 crore to 14 Kendriya Vidyalayas that were on the verge of shutting down because of lack of support from PSUs. AIMIM member Imtiaz Jaleel urged the Finance Minister to have a separate budget for health and education sectors.
