'Not futuristic': Opposition reacts to Union Budget 2023

The Opposition party leaders slammed the Union Budget 2023 presented by Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Wednesday. Terming the budget anti-people West Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee slams the budget and says that it is not futuristic.

New Delhi:Terming the Union Budget "anti-people", West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Wednesday said it will deprive the poor. Mamata claimed that the changes in the income tax slabs will not help anyone. "This Union Budget is not futuristic, totally opportunistic, anti-people and anti-poor. It will benefit only one class of people. This Budget will not help address the country's unemployment issue. It has been prepared with an eye on the 2024 Lok Sabha elections," she said.

"The changes in the income tax slabs will not help anyone. There is no ray of hope in this Budget -- it is a dark dark budget. Give me half an hour and I will show you how to prepare a Budget for the poor," she added. Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman placed the Budget for 2023-24 in Parliament. She announced no tax for those with an annual income of up to Rs 7 lakh under the new tax regime but made no changes for those who continue in the old regime.

Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Wednesday said despite paying more than Rs 1.75 lakh crore income tax last year, the city was allocated only Rs 325 crore in the Union Budget 2023-24. Accusing the Centre of meting out step-motherly treatment to the national capital, he said the budget has offered no respite from the twin problems of inflation and unemployment.

"Step-motherly treatment again with the people of Delhi. The people of Delhi paid more than Rs 1.75 lakh crore income tax last year. Out of that only Rs 325 crore was given for the development of Delhi. This is a gross injustice to the people of Delhi," Kejriwal said in a series of tweets. "There is no relief from inflation in this budget. On the contrary, this budget will increase inflation. There is no concrete plan to remove unemployment. Unfortunate to reduce education budget from 2.64 per cent to 2.5 per cent. Reducing health budget from 2.2 per cent to 1.98 per cent is harmful," he said.

Former Rajya Sabha MP Subramanian Swamy tweeted on the Union Budget 2023 said, "Is this a Budget presented today? It is a grocery store shopkeeper’s Bill — A decent Budget should disclose what are the Objectives. If it is GDP growth rate then disclose the level of investment and rate of return; the priorities, the economic strategy, &resource mobilisation."

Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge on Union Budget 2023 said, "The budget was presented by Modi govt keeping in view the upcoming Assembly polls in 3-4 states... There's nothing in the budget for poor people & to control inflation. No steps for jobs, to fill govt vacancies & MNREGA."

The Union Budget is not people-friendly as it has been prepared keeping in mind the interests of a few businessmen, People's Democratic Party (PDP) chief Mehbooba Mufti alleged. Talking to reporters here, the former Jammu and Kashmir chief minister said the budget presented by Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman is the same as the ones presented by the BJP-led government over the last eight-nine years.

"Taxes have increased and money is not being spent on welfare schemes or subsidies. Taxes are being amassed for their crony capitalists. The taxes imposed should have benefitted the people, but they have broken their backs. "Rather than benefitting people, welfare schemes and subsidies are being done away with. The situation in the country is such that those who had risen above the poverty line have again fallen below it," Mufti said.

She alleged that the budget has been prepared for "a few businessmen". "This is not for the people of India, not for the poor," the former Union minister said. "This is not a people-friendly budget. The taxes have been increased, the GST (Goods and Services Tax) has been increased. Money will be taken out of the pockets of the poor and it will go to big businessmen," Mufti said.

Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav on Wednesday said the Union Budget for 2023-24 has given "nirasha" (despair) instead of "asha" (hope) to people of the country. He also claimed that the budget further increases inflation and unemployment. Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman presented the budget for the fiscal year 2023-24 in Lok Sabha on Wednesday and said it hopes to build on the foundation of the previous budget and blue print for India@100.

"The BJP is completing a decade of its budgets, but when it did not give anything to the public earlier, what will it give now?" Yadav tweeted in Hindi. "The BJP's budget further increases inflation and unemployment. It does not give 'asha' but 'nirasha' to farmers, labourers, youth, women, professionals and the business class. This budget is for the benefit of a few rich people," he added.

People who had risen above the poverty level have fallen below the poverty level again."Trinamool Congress (TMC) leader Shatrughan Sinha said that the Union Budget presented in the Parliament had a major focus on "Hum Do Humare Do" and had nothing special for the people belonging to the middle-class strata. Shatrughan Sinha said, "The budget was presented keeping in mind the upcoming Lok Sabha elections and there was nothing special mention for the middle-class people. Looking at the budget, it seems as if it has been created to specially care about the 'Hum Do Humare Do' as it is evident from the significantly reduced highest slab for Income Tax payers. People understand it well whom have they done it for."

Cong Gen Secy KC Venugopal said, 'This budget isn't addressing real sentiment of country that's unemployment & price rise. It only had fancy announcements that were made earlier too but what about implementation? Only insurance companies were benefited from PM Kisan Yojana not farmers."

While majority of the opposition slammed the budget Shashi Tharoor praised it by saying "There are some good things in Union Budget 2023 but there was no mention of MNREGA, poor rural labour, employment & inflation. Some fundamental questions remained to be answered."