Rahul Gandhi to initiate Union budget debate on behalf of Congress

Last updated on February 16th, 2021 at 06:55 am

Former Congress President Rahul Gandhi would head the debate over the Union budget, for the financial year 2021-22, presented by finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman in Lok Sabha on February 1. He would be the first speaker of the opposition Party to initiate the discussion in the lower house on Wednesday. Congress leader slammed the budget proposal put forward by the BJP-led government, stating that it did not benefit the common man, and criticized PM Narendra Modi for promoting policies that favored a small section of industrialists.

On Tuesday, in a severe attack on Modi’s government’s pro-industrialists’ policies, Gandhi took to Twitter and wrote, “Mr. Modi’s ‘Vikas’- PSUs to be shrunk to one-tenth. Country’s loss, crony’s gain.”

In an add-on to that criticism, Congress leader targeted the Union finance minister and said that in her budget speech, she used the word “Prime Minister” six times and the word “corporates/ companies” about 17 times but did not mention “defense” and “China” even for once.

In another tweet, Gandhi said, “Modi’s crony centric budget means- Jawans facing Chinese aggression in extreme conditions will get no support. India’s defenders betrayed,”

The party leader Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury said that earlier Shashi Tharoor’s name was proposed as the first speaker for the debate, but the suggestion was altered later.

The Congress MP from Wayanad (Kerala) proposed that in order to help the population at the lowest rung of the economic ladder, the government should introduce direct cash transfers, given the poorest sections being most impacted by the pandemic. Gandhi also criticized the Modi government for slashing the pension of soldiers, the country’s frontline warriors. 

Besides, Gandhi had been accusing Government policies as biased and ineffective, and blamed the ruling for its mishandling of various issues, ranging from India’s standoff with China on Line of Actual Control (LAC), a slump in economic growth, ignoring farmers rights to Union Budget. As per the reports, the budget debate would be initiated after PM Modi submitted his reply to the motion of thanks to the President’s address.