Better if budget is more for country than a party: BSP chief Mayawati

LUCKNOW [UP]: Bahujan Samajwadi Party (BSP) chief Mayawati on Wednesday took a veiled jibe at the Centre for its Union Budget presented in the Parliament and said that it should be for the country instead of being for a party.

"Whenever the Centre talks about the beneficiaries of a scheme, it must remember that India is a vast country of about 130 crore poor peoples, labourers, deprived citizens, farmers etc. who are yearning for their Amrit Kaal. It is better if the budget is more for the country than for a party," BSP chief Mayawati said in a series of tweets.

Taking to Twitter, Mayawati said that the presented budget has been very much similar to the ones presented in the last nine years with huge promises and announcements being showered on the common citizens.

"All the promises, announcements, claims and expectations showered by the Centre in its budget during the last nine years became meaningless [bemani] when the middle-class section of India became lower middle class due to inflation, poverty, and unemployment," she said mentioning that the Union Budget 2023 has not been any different.

"This year's budget is not much different. No government tells its shortcomings of the last year but line the people up with new promises. People live on hopes, but why give false hopes?" she added. She further said that the narrow policies of the government have the biggest side effects on the lives of the people connected to rural India.

Terming rural India as the real India, Mayawati said that the "narrow policies" and "wrong thinking" of the government have biggest side effects on the lives of the crores of poor farmers and other hardworking people connected with rural India.

The government should pay attention to their self-respect and self-reliance so that the pockets of the common man are filled and the country can develop further, she added. "In the 75th year of our Independence, the world has recognised the Indian economy as a 'bright star'.

Our current year's economic growth is estimated to be at 7 per cent. It is notable that this is the highest among all the major economies. This is in spite of the massive slowdown globally caused by Covid-19 and a war.

The Indian economy is therefore on the right track, and despite a time of challenges, heading towards a bright future," Finance Minister Nirmala Sitahraman said in her address while presenting the Union Budget for the fifth time in the Parliament.

Sitharaman started her Budget speech at 11 am, the last full Budget of the Modi government in its second term. Like the previous two Union Budgets, Union Budget 2023-24 is also presented in paperless form. This year's Budget holds much significance as the country is scheduled to have the next Lok Sabha election in April-May 2024.

As per established tradition, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman along with ministers of state Pankaj Chaudhary and Bhagwat Karad and Finance Secretary T V Somanathan called on President Droupadi Murmu.

The budget session of the Parliament began on Tuesday with President's address, subsequently tabling the Economic Survey for 2022-23. The formal exercise to prepare the annual Budget for the next financial year (2023-24) commenced on October 10.

The Economic Survey, tabled in the Parliament on Tuesday, noted India's GDP is expected to grow in the range of 6 to 6.8 per cent in the coming financial year 2023-24. This is in comparison to the estimated 7 per cent this fiscal and 8.7 per cent in 2021-22.