The Opposition’s INDIA bloc, including the Congress and Trinamool Congress, Saturday criticised the Union Budget 2025, presented by finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman, claiming that it has nothing to address the “illnesses” of stagnant real wages, lack of buoyancy in mass consumption, sluggish rates of private investment and a complicated GST system that the economy is suffering from.
While Congress MPs Karti Chidambaram and Kumari Selja raised concerns about the Union Budget 2025, accusing the government of offering vague proposals without addressing key issues facing the country, Trinamool Congress leader Abhishek Banerjee claimed that the Budget has “nothing” for West Bengal.
Here’s how Opposition reacted
Congress: Congress leader Rahul Gandhi slammed the Union Budget as a “band-aid for bullet wounds”, saying that the Centre was “bankrupt of ideas”. He said solving the economic crisis demanded a paradigm shift.
“A band-aid for bullet wounds! Amid global uncertainty, solving our economic crisis demanded a paradigm shift,” Gandhi said in a post on X
The Congress took a swipe at the Narendra Modi government over its budget announcements, asking that while Bihar appears to have got a bonanza, why the other pillar of the NDA, Andhra Pradesh, has been so “cruelly ignored”.
Congress general secretary in-charge communications Jairam Ramesh said, “The economy is suffering from four related crises — stagnant real wages, lack of buoyancy in mass consumption, sluggish rates of private investment, complex and complicated GST system.”
“The Budget does nothing to address these illnesses. The only relief has been for income tax payers. What actual impact this will have on the economy remains to be seen,” Jairam Ramesh said on X.
Taking a swipe at the Centre over the Union Budget, the Congress also said while finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman spoke of four engines of development, the Budget was “completely derailed”.
In her Saturday budget speech, Sitharaman said agriculture, MSME, investments and exports are the four power engines of development.
Ramesh said, “The FM spoke of four engines: Agriculture, MSMEs, Investment, and Exports. So many engines that the Budget has been completely derailed.”
In another post, he said, “The BJP led by Arun Jaitley successfully sabotaged the Civil Liability for Nuclear Damage Act, 2010, that international companies wanted when Dr Manmohan Singh was PM. Now to appease Mr Trump, the FM announces that the Act will be amended.”
Karti Chidambaram questioned the budget’s actual impact, stating, “Look at the details before we can really give an intelligent comment about the budget. Because the budget is always the devil is in the details and really can’t make up our minds one way or the other merely by hearing the finance minister’s speech.”
He said while new proposals were introduced, it’s important to assess the progress of initiatives announced in previous budgets. “Some grand schemes were announced in the previous budget as well. So what is the status of them?” Chidambaram added.
Kumari Selja, another Congress MP, criticised the budget for failing to address the needs of farmers and workers.
“Farmers didn’t get MSP. They talked about nuclear but our nuclear power plant in Haryana’s Gorakhpur (Gorakhpur Haryana Anu Vidyut Pariyojana) has been there for a long time and both are happening there,” she said.
Aam Aadmi Party: AAP MP Sanjay Singh expressed disappointment over the Budget 2025, stating that small traders have been left out with no tax relief on their income of ₹12 lakh.
He emphasised that AAP national convenor Arvind Kejriwal had suggested recovering the ₹16 lakh crore loan waived for industrialists to halve GST and income tax rates, providing massive relief to the middle class and common people, but this proposal was ignored.
Trinamool Congress: Abhishek Banerjee on Saturday alleged that the state continues to remain “deprived” under the BJP-led NDA rule at the Centre.
Banerjee, the TMC national general secretary, who was talking to reporters in Delhi after the budget presentation in Parliament, said several announcements were made for Bihar as the assembly elections there are due later this year.
Bihar remained in focus in the presentation of the Union Budget for the 2025-26 fiscal with Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman making several announcements for the state, including setting up of a Makhana Board, financial assistance for western Kosi canal and support for enhancing the capacity of IIT Patna.
“There has been nothing for Bengal in the Union Budget. As in the past during the BJP’s reign, there has not been enough allocation for the state in this budget. Our (TMC) MPs have been vocal and have sought a rise in the allocation of funds for central projects. We have demanded new projects for Bengal but the state remains deprived,” he said.
Accusing the 12 BJP MPs from Bengal of “doing little to take up the state’s cause”, Banerjee, the Diamond Harbour MP, said, “They did nothing to help the state and its people economically.”
Bahujan Samaj Party: Mayawati said the BJP government’s Budget, like that of the Congress previously, seems to be more about political interests and less about the people and the country.
In a post on X in Hindi, Mayawati said, “Due to the tremendous impact of inflation, poverty, and unemployment in the country, along with lack of basic amenities like roads, water, and education, people’s lives in India which has a huge population of about 140 crore are quite troubled, which needed to be resolved through the Union Budget.”
But the Budget presented by the BJP government, like those by the Congress previously, seems to be more about political interests and less about the people and the country, she said.
“If this is not the case, why are the lives of people continuously troubled, miserable and unhappy under this government? The dream of a ‘Viksit Bharat’ should also be in the interest of the Bahujans,” she said.
(With inputs from agencies)
