NEW DELHI: When Union finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman stands up to read her budget speech on Tuesday, farmers, women and youth are likely to be her main focus. With five states going to polls from February 10, the Narendra Modi government is expected to placate some sections of the society that are supposedly angry with it and win back others who are being wooed by rival political parties.
The year-long farmers’ protest against the three farm reform laws, which was called off in December 2021, has given an impression of the agricultural community turning against the BJP which is governing at the Centre and has a major stake in the five states going to polls - Uttar Pradesh (UP), Punjab, Uttarakhand, Manipur and Goa.
