Congress calls it a kursi bachao budget, says it copied ideas from its manifesto

NEW DELHI: Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge and leader of opposition Rahul Gandhi slammed the budget as a "kursi bachao (save the chair)” effort, while claiming that the Modi govt had borrowed ideas “generously” from the Congress’ manifesto, though it could not do so properly.
Rahul Gandhi in a post on X, Gandhi said it was a “Kursi Bachao' budget.” He followed up by adding that “Appease Allies: Hollow promises to them at the cost of other states.Appease Cronies: Benefits to AA with no relief for the common Indian. Copy and Paste: Congress manifesto and previous budgets."
"The Modi government's 'copycat budget' could not even copy the Congress' Nyay Patra properly! The Modi govt's budget is distributing half-hearted 'rewadis (freebies)' to dupe its coalition partners so that the NDA survives," Mallikarjun Kharge said in a post in Hindi. "This is not a budget for the 'progress of the country'. It is a 'save Modi govt' budget!" he added.
Talking to media persons, Kharge termed the budget as “disappointing” and alleged that the budget distribution is "not need-based, but only to save the chair".
"We had expected the budget to address the long pending issues of the farmers including the legal guarantee for the MSP, subsidy on fertilisers and other things. But none of these things were mentioned in the budget," he said. He also referred to the caste census, saying the government had not allocated any funds for this purpose in the budget.
Senior Congress leader and former finance minister P Chidambaram said unemployment is the "biggest challenge facing the country" and the govt's response is "too little" and will have little impact on the "grave situation". He said the Economic Survey dismissed the issue of inflation in a few short sentences. The finance minister dismissed it in 10 words in para three of her speech, he said.
Chidambaram also highlighted that the finance minister did not address the serious concerns affecting education like the NEET examination system and the scandal-ridden National Testing Agency. "Several states have demanded that NEET should be scrapped and the states should be free to adopt their own methods of selecting candidates to various courses in medical education. But there was no response," the Congress leader said, expressing concern over the govt's failure to address this. "I did not hear the finance minister refer to school education. Yet, the government is stubbornly clinging to NEET which, you will recall, is an examination at the end of school education," he added.
The former finance minister also alleged that the finance minister’s speech reflects that she has "virtually adopted the ideas underlying his party's proposals on Employment-linked Incentive (ELI) scheme, apprenticeship scheme with an allowance to the apprentice, and on the abolition of Angel Tax.”
On the same issue Praveen Chakravarty, AICC spokesperson and chairman of Professionals' Congress and Data Analytics in a post on X took a dig at the govt saying, "PM Modi called the Congress manifesto a "Muslim League" document. Today, his govt's budget has copy-pasted from it. And I am not complaining!"
In another post he highlighted sections from the Economic Survey that refer to the employment linked investive scheme and revamp of apprenticeship framework essential for job creation. He also shared portions from the Congress manifesto where the party promised that if elected it would implement the ELI scheme and Right to Apprenticeship for jobs. "Imitation is the best form of flattery!," he added.
"However, the ELIs announced in the Budget raise questions about their effectiveness. The ELIs for first-timers provides one-month wage to all persons newly entering the workforce in all formal sectors. This scheme misreads the challenges India faces on two accounts," Congress general secretary Jairam Ramesh said in a post on X and elaborated on the challenges to drive home his point that what NDA govt is proposing in the budget is not good enough.
"India’s key challenge is the lack of availability of jobs. This scheme rewards those who are already lucky enough to get formal jobs. The job-seekers who are unable to find employment - who are in much larger numbers and more urgently in need of aid – find no mention," he said.
"India has faced difficulties ensuring that its women join the productive labour force. This scheme appears to be gender-blind, with no specific attention to women youth, and only rewards women who already find jobs. It fails to do anything to incentivize women to seek jobs," Ramesh added.
"The two employer ELIs also need to be reworked. The INC had proposed delivering ELIs through tax credits, whereas the Budget delivers them through reimbursements for EPFO contributions. This delivery mechanism is effectively a subsidy on wages for these employed workers – whereas rebates on taxes would have been more compelling for firm owners and proprietors in encouraging hiring," he explains.
Ramesh also highlighted that alongside unemployment, the budget is notable for finally acknowledging one other crisis. "MSMEs - whom the PM and his govt have intentionally tried to debilitate over the last ten years – were a major talking point in the union budget. Aside from the credit guarantee for manufacturing MSMEs – for which few details have been made available so far – however the Budget failed to make good on some key policy proposals that could have revitalized the MSME sector," he said while listing out the challenges.
"It appears that the personal, political, and moral defeat of June 4th has chastened this Government into admitting some key issues – but it has not yet whipped them into competence!," he concluded.