The Congress took a dig at the Budget presented by the National Democratic Alliance government claiming that it had borrowed from the United Progressive Alliance government’s plans and had failed to address the issue of inflation that affected the common man the most.
Initiating a discussion in the Lok Sabha on the General Budget presented by Finance Minister Arun Jaitley, Congress MP Jyotiraditya Scindia said the Budget, a vision document, had no direction and lacked bold decisions.
He said the Bharatiya Janata Party’s Budget was an “imitation” of the UPA’s budgets. “Imitation is best form of flattery … We accept this. This has been done by those who came to power proclaiming to free India of Congress.” He said instead of ‘Congress Mukt Bharat’ [Congress-free India] the NDA government had presented a ‘Congress Yukt [Congress inclusive] Budget.’
Listing the achievements of the UPA government over the past 10 years, he said the NDA inherited an economy in good shape. “In 2004, when the UPA took over, the GDP was $500 billion and now it is $ 2 trillion. During the NDA’s six-year rule the GDP rate was 5.7 per cent, while during the UPA’s it was 7.7 per cent for the first time in the country’s history,” he said.
He targeted the Union government for not listing in the Budget speech the measures that would be taken to curb inflation. He said the NDA government had already increased the prices of petrol and diesel, but was quick to describe it was an extension of the UPA policy.
Referring to the income tax exemption limits, he said by raising the limit by Rs. 50,000 the government had allowed a saving of Rs. 416 per month, but the high inflation increased the spending burden by Rs. 1,200 a month.
He also took a dig at Prime Minister Narendra Modi for tweeting against the UPA’s decision to increase foreign direct investment in the insurance sector and yet allowing his own government to raise the cap.
Mr. Scindia said the Congress would support any measure intended for the welfare of the people, but would strongly resist, along with the UPA allies, any steps against their interests.
Rebutting the Congress’ charge, BJP MP from Hazaribagh Jayant Sinha said it was the BJP that had left a healthy economy for the UPA in 2004. Punching holes in the Congress’ claims, he said the Indian economy was doing most poorly, compared to the others, and it has had the worst economic performance in 25 years.
“Below five per cent growth for successive two years is scandalous and shameful,” he said.
The BJP MP said the rate of savings came down from 33 to 30 per cent and people started hedging the risks by buying more gold.
