Nirmala Sitharaman, Union Finance Minister, did not even mention the term “unemployment” once in her Budget address, according to Congress politician P Chidambaram, who was criticising Sitharaman’s 5th Budget, which was delivered a year before the 2024 Lok Sabha elections. Similarly, the FM did not use the words “poor,” “inequality,” or “equity” in her address, according to Chidambaram.
“Fortunately, she used the term “poor” twice throughout her speech. I am confident that the public will notice who the administration is concerned about and who is not”, Chidambaram went on to say.
The Budget has not benefited the poor, young, taxpayers, or housewives, according to Chidambaram. “The government is determined to push for the new tax regime, which has few takers for a variety of reasons,” Congress leader said.
The fact that the new tax regime will be the default one is highly unjust, and it will deprive regular taxpayers of the social security that the old regime may still provide, according to Chidambaram.
While many academics and business leaders praised Nirmala Sitharaman’s Budget 2023, which made income up to 7 lakh tax-free, the opposition branded the budget opportunistic and claimed there was nothing in it for farmers and the poor.
According to Congress politician Jairam Ramesh, the budget is built on the OPUD approach (Over Promise, Under Deliver). “Last year’s budget received praise for its allocations to agriculture, health, education, MGNREGA, and SC welfare. Today’s reality is clear. Actual spending is far lower than projected. This is Modi’s OPUD headline management strategy: Overpromise, Underdeliver “Jairam Ramesh took to Twitter.
“New Regime: Tax Exemption till 7 lakhs but has took away deductions one could claim to decrease tax burden, a medium income person was incentivised to own asset by way of 80c (e.g. home loan), the government has taken it away. This is a swindle of the middle class!” Priyanka Chaturvedi, MP of the Shiv Sena (Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray), tweeted.