New Delhi, Feb 1
Congress MP Rahul Gandhi took a swipe at the Centre over the Union Budget 2025, labelling it as "a band-aid for bullet wounds". He pointed out that amid global economic uncertainty, addressing India’s economic crisis required a "paradigm shift" but the current government, according to him, is "bankrupt of ideas".
Rahul Gandhi expressed his dissatisfaction with the government's approach in a post on X.
The Congress earlier flayed the Union Budget, presented by Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Saturday.
The grand old party claimed the Budget failed to address key economic issues such as stagnant real wages, lack of buoyancy in mass consumption, sluggish private investment rates, and a complex Goods and Services Tax (GST) system.
The Congress also accused Prime Minister Narendra Modi-led government of offering a “bonanza” to Bihar, governed by NDA ally Nitish Kumar, while "cruelly" ignoring Andhra Pradesh, another ally of the NDA.
Congress general secretary Jairam Ramesh echoed similar concerns, stating: "The economy is suffering from four related crises -- stagnant real wages, lack of buoyancy in mass consumption, sluggish rates of private investment, a complex and complicated GST system.
"The Budget does nothing to address these illnesses. The only relief has been for income taxpayers. What actual impact this will have on the economy remains to be seen."
Ramesh further slammed Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman's claim in her speech that the Budget focused on four engines of development: agriculture, MSMEs, investments, and exports.
According to Ramesh, the Budget was “completely derailed", saying: "The FM spoke of four engines: Agriculture, MSMEs, Investment, and Exports. So many engines that the Budget has been completely derailed."