Budget 2025: ‘Band-aid for bullet wound’: Rahul Gandhi on Budget

“A band-aid for bullet wounds! Amid global uncertainty, solving our economic crisis demanded a paradigm shift. But this government is bankrupt of ideas,” Rahul Gandhi said

Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Saturday (February 1, 2025) criticised the Union Budget 2025 saying the Centre was out of ideas in solving the “economic crisis”.

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“A band-aid for bullet wounds! Amid global uncertainty, solving our economic crisis demanded a paradigm shift. But this government is bankrupt of ideas,” Mr. Gandhi said in a post on X.

Meanwhile, Congress chief Mallikarjun Kharge called said the budget was an “attempt by the Modi government to fool the people”.

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“In the last 10 years, the Modi government has collected ₹54.18 lakh crores of income tax from the middle class, and now the exemption of up to ₹12 lakhs is being given, according to which the Finance Minister herself is saying that there will be a saving of ₹80,000 per year. That is, only ₹ 6,666 per month!” he said in a post on X.

He also alleged that the government has mad the Make in India scheme into the National Manufacturing Mission to “hide its flaws”. He said several other announcements were also like this.

He also said that there was nothing in the Budget for youth, women empowerment, poor and the minorities. “Despite skyrocketing inflation, the budget of MGNREGA remains the same. Nothing has been done to increase the income of workers,” he said.

Congress leader Jairam Ramesh said that the Budget didn’t address some major issues. “The economy is suffering from four related crises - i. Stagnant real wages, ii. Lack of buoyancy in mass consumption, iii. Sluggish rates of private investment, iv. A 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,“ he said.

Published - February 01, 2025 04:13 pm IST