Nothing except fake promises, says Capt

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, February 1

Trashing the Union Budget for 2019-20 as a “jumla budget” of the Modi government, Chief Minister Capt Amarinder Singh on Friday described it as a hogwash, with nothing for the farmers and youth, while putting more burden on the common man.

Reacting to the last Budget of the “jumla sarkar”, the Chief Minister said it was an election-centric Budget aimed at misleading people with false promises, which were not backed by numbers. It was a typical Budget of a government on its last legs, with nothing except fake promises for the people of India, said Capt Amarinder, rejecting it as all fluff and no action.

He termed the Rs 6,000 a year announced for marginal farmers as mere peanuts. With just Rs 500 a month for the distressed farmers, the Modi government had made it obvious that they did not recognise the gravity of the problem, said the Chief Minister, dubbing the exercise as a mockery of the interests of the farming community.

“They had promised Rs 15 lakh in accounts of all but have ended up giving only Rs 6,000 a year to farmers up to two hectares, and that too at the end of their tenure, clearly showing their lack of intent to do anything for the farmers’ welfare,” the Chief Minister said.

The Chief Minister flayed the Budget as a mismatched one, noting that the concessions given to the tune of Rs 1 lakh crore should actually mean an incremental deficit of 0.5 per cent but the government had shown additional deficit of only 0.1 per cent. “This means at least Rs 80,000 crore worth of taxes would be imposed in the full Budget, resulting in more burden on the common man in the coming days,” he added.

“Even the MSP of 50 per cent above the production cost was nothing but an eyewash as the government was not buying all items on the list,” he said.

He pointed out that while maize had an MSP, it was not being bought by the government, forcing the farmers to sell it at an abominably low cost.

“The entire budget is in future tense, as it talks about a $5 trillion economy in five years and a $10 trillion economy in the next eight years. Nowhere did it reflect the achievements of the BJP-led NDA government of the past five years,” he added.

He said the Central government “had also breached healthy norms of constitutional propriety by announcing concessions for the future with a clear eye on elections” while it was expected to propose a mere Vote on Account.

It is a hogwash with nothing for farmers. They had promised Rs 15 lakh in accounts of all, but have ended up giving only Rs 6,000 a year to farmers, and that too at the end of their tenure, clearly showing their lack of intent to do anything for the farmers’ welfare — Capt Amarinder Singh, Chief Minister