'Zero sum', 'pro-rich', 'insipid': Congress reacts to Budget 2022

Congress reacted sharply to the Union Budget by calling it "disappointing" and slamming the Government for making announcements "only for the rich people". They termed the Union Budget as "Insipid", "Unimaginative", "Uninspiring", "Unrealistic" and "Unimplementable". Rahul Gandhi went a bit further and termed it "zero sum".

New Delhi: Congress reacted sharply to the Union Budget presented by the Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman in parliament on Tuesday by calling it "disappointing" and slamming the central government for making announcements "only for the rich people".

Calling it a "zero sum" budget, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi said it had "nothing for salaried class, middle class, poor & deprived, youth, farmers, and Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs)". In his tweet, he used zeros instead of Os to tag the budget as "zero sum".

While addressing the media after the budget, the Leader of Opposition in Rajya Sabha Mallikarjun Kharge questioned the cut in corporate taxes and said, "This budget is just for rich people, not for poor. This budget has been tailor-made to please the crony-capitalist friends of the BJP and completely overlooks the needs of the middle class and the poor. It is also aimed at promoting disinvestment."

"It is Arjuna and Dronacharya's budget, not Eklavya's, (from Mahabharata). They also mentioned cryptocurrency, which doesn't have any law, nor has it been discussed before," said Kharge.

The Government, he said, had earlier said that it will construct four crore houses for the poor by 2022. "It has now become clear that only two crore houses have been built and now, they have promised to build 80 lakh more houses. So, all these promises are turning out to be hollow."

Deputy leader in Rajya Sabha, Anand Sharma asserted that there were a lot of expectations from the budget, especially regarding the job creation for the middle class and the poor. "But that has not happened. Rising inequality has not been addressed. This budget has brought no relief for small industries," said Anand Sharma.

"I will term it as disappointing, high-sounding words. It is high in optics but low in outcomes. There is no relief when it comes to Government employees, for income taxpayers," he said.

The Congress leader added, "India's economy continues to be struggling. By giving the number of GDP growth, you cannot take away the painful fact that in 2022, on 31st of March, we will be exactly where we were two years ago. So two years have been lost. There is nothing for the informal sector, which is the driving engine for growth and employs India's 90 per cent of the workforce."

Claiming that the disinvestment targets which the government had set last year have not materialized as well, Sharma said, "When it comes to manufacturing there is a gap of 24% and in the case of GDP, if you look at the reality, the gap is as huge as 12 per cent."

Congress MP Manish Tewari termed the Union Budget as "Insipid", "Unimaginative", "Uninspiring", "Unrealistic" and "Unimplementable".

Congress MP and former Union Minister Jairam Ramesh questioned the Government's announcements related to the environment, saying, "On the one hand, the budget talks of climate action and protecting the environment. On the other, it pushes ecologically disastrous river-linking projects. Rhetoric sounds nice. But actions matter more. On that front, the Modi govt is on a destructive path."