Trinamool Congress leader Abhishek Banerjee. File
| Photo Credit: DEBASISH BHADURI
Highlighting that not a single meaningful financial allocation had been made to West Bengal in the Union Budget 2025-25 presented by Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, the Trinamool Congress (TMC) leadership on Saturday (Saturday 1, 2024) said that the Budget was nothing short of an economic betrayal of West Bengal.
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“The NDA [National Democratic Alliance] government has once again laid bare its utter disregard for the people with a Budget that reeks of political opportunism, not welfarism. This is not a people-centric budget- it is an election stunt designed to bankroll BJP’s [Bharatiya Janata Party] electoral machinery and appease its allies. For Bengal, this Budget is nothing short of an economic betrayal,” Trinamool Congress general secretary Abhishek Banerjee posted on social media.
Speaking to journalists, Mr. Banerjee said that the Budget was aimed at elections in Bihar, scheduled later this year, and it deprived the other States where elections are not scheduled.
“Not a single meaningful financial allocation has been made for the State [of West Bengal]. This is a deliberate financial blockade, a calculated move to stifle Bengal’s growth and development. Despite the BJP having 12 MPs from Bengal, their silence on this systematic deprivation speaks volumes about their complicity in this injustice,” the MP from Diamond Harbour said.
Funds for several schemes in West Bengal, including the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA), have been suspended in the State for the past few years over allegations of corruption. There has also been no State-specific allocations to West Bengal for some years, and the TMC has been targeting the BJP over the issue, calling the party “Bangla birodhis” (those opposed to West Bengal). The Trinamool leadership on Saturday again referred to the term “Bangla birodhis” while targeting the BJP leadership.
“This Bangla Birodhi Budget is yet another reminder that for the BJP, Bengal exists only as a political battleground, not as a State deserving of its rightful dues. The people of Bengal will not forget. The people of Bengal will not forgive,” Mr. Banerjee said.
Former West Bengal Finance Minister and Chief Advisor to the West Bengal Chief Minister Amit Mitra spoke on the Budget’s fine print and raised questions over what the government had done to control inflation.
“In fact, you will be surprised to know that to keep the fiscal deficit at 4.4%, the Central government is again going to borrow almost ₹15 lakh crore,” Mr. Mitra said.
He pointed out that the Union government had allowed 100% foreign direct insurance.
“They will come in with a 100% equity but when our State asked for GST [in health insurance] to be reduced from 18% to 0 because it is only punishing the people, the Central government did not allow it. Is there some kind of conspiracy here? That foreign direct investors come in 100% equity but the GST remains at 18%. Who benefits from it?” he said.
“There is nothing for the common people, nothing for the youth but unemployment, nothing significant for women but only words, nothing for the farmers except homilies,” Mr. Mitra said.
The BJP leadership in West Bengal, however, lauded the relief in Income Tax. “Thrilled to know that no income tax has to be paid up to ₹12 lakh. Huge relief for the middle class..,” the Leader of the Opposition in the State Assembly Suvendu Adhikari said on social media.
Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) West Bengal State Secretary Md Salim said that the Budget presented by the Union government was the Budget of Bihar and not of India.
Published – February 01, 2025 09:25 pm IST
