The ‘Deshbhakti Budget’ was passed in the Delhi Legislative Assembly on Friday and talking about it, Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia said that deshbhakti means envisioning growth and progress for all in Delhi.
Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, during his address to the Assembly, congratulated Mr. Sisodia, who also holds the finance portfolio, for presenting an “excellent” and surplus budget despite difficult circumstances that Delhi had to witness due to less tax and revenue collection due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
He also sought to criticise the Opposition for opposing various initiatives, such as the installation of 500 flag masts across Delhi and the free ‘ teerath yatra’ to the Ram Mandir in Ayodhya for elders proposed as part of it.
“What is fundamental to our party is that we uphold the ideals of the Constitution while keeping Lord Ram in our hearts. For us, progress and growth of Delhi is deshbhakti . We don’t believe in empty promises and zero actions,” Mr. Sisodia said.
‘Politics of work’
“We believe in fulfilling our promises and truly working for the people of Delhi. It is the key focus of Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal to extend help and hope to those who are not privileged. The politics of Delhi government is politics of work,” he also said.
Addressing the Assembly, Mr. Kejriwal said circumstances last year were “very tough” with losses in jobs and business. While there was no tax collection on one side, there was an increase in expenditure on the other.
Last year, when the government’s revenue got “drastically reduced”, he said, many had predicted that the subsidy on electricity and water would cease, but that was not the case.
“We continued to provide free electricity, water, school education, healthcare and bus rides for women. We will continue to provide all these services for free in the next financial year as well. I want to congratulate the people of Delhi on this,” Mr. Kejriwal said.
“In the last 1-1.5 months, budgets were presented in almost all the States of India, along with the Central budget that was presented recently. Almost all have presented budgets in deficit. Delhi is the only State to have presented a surplus budget despite such difficult times, which is a huge achievement,” he also said.
Leader of Opposition in the Delhi Assembly, Ramvir Singh Bidhuri, who led a walkout after a bitter exchange during Mr. Sisodia’s address, termed the Delhi government “directionless” and the budget an exercise in futility.
“The claim that the Budget had shown a phenomenal growth during the last six years of AAP government’s rule is totally false and misleading. During previous governments’ rule, the budget growth has been around 55%, whereas during the six budgets presented during the AAP government rule, it has slipped to 12% which is deplorable,” he alleged.
“The New Excise Policy, under which the government has promised to open 200 new liquor vends to earn ₹2,500 crore revenue in the coming year, is highly objectionable and already every ward in Delhi has a liquor vend and opening more such shops will only lead to social unrest,” he also alleged.
On his part, Mr. Kejriwal said he failed to understand why the BJP and Congress were “opposing the setting up of flags” across Delhi.
“What makes them oppose this? This is a remarkable move and they should support it and appreciate it. There should be no politics of patriotism. Is it a crime to provide our elders with a free pilgrimage to a place of worship such as Ayodhya? They want to play politics in everything,” he said.
“Many opposition parties are mocking us after hearing that we will bid for the Olympics and we will raise the per capita income of Delhi up to Singapore, but we will definitely do it like we fulfilled promises to provide free power, water and improve the condition of government schools and hospitals,” he said.
