Union Budget: Aspirations of youth, interests of farmers ignored, says Kumari Selja

Animesh Singh

New Delhi, July 24

Describing the Union Budget as an exercise to save the kursi (chair) and benefit allies such as the JD(U) and the TDP, Congress MP Kumari Selja on Monday attacked the Centre for not giving anything to farmers, youth and the labour class.

Initiating the discussion on the Union Budget in the Lok Sabha, the Congress MP from Sirsa sought immediate scrapping of the controversial Agnipath scheme. She urged the Centre to ensure legal guarantee for minimum support price (MSP) for the farmers and Rs 400 per day for farm labourers.

“I only want to know whether you (referring to the treasury benches) have learnt anything from what the nation is trying to teach you through the poll results,” Selja said.

Lamenting that Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman did not mention Haryana, Maharashtra and Jharkhand in her Budget speech, Selja wondered whether the BJP-led Central Government had already conceded defeat in all three poll-bound states even before the elections were to be announced there.

The Budget, she said, was about “kursi ko bachao aur mitron ko bachao” (save the chair and protect friends).

Focussing on the MSP to be given to the farmers, for which they protested for over a year, Selja said the Centre had conveniently forgotten the MS Swaminathan formula given for calculating the MSP.

“As many as 736 farmers lost their lives during agitation against the farm laws but not a word was spoken about them by the government,” the Congress leader said.

Selja criticised the handling of schemes like MGNREGA and the government’s failure to mention it in the Budget.

“MGNREGA was a saviour during Covid, but you have forgotten it now. When our time will come, we will ensure a minimum wage of Rs 400 per day for the labourers” she said.

Dubbing the Budget as a collection of “jumlas”, the senior Congress leader cautioned NDA members Nitish Kumar and N Chandrababu Naidu that they may celebrate today for getting a large share for their states, but it doesn’t take long for time to change.

Haryana left out

Employment generation schemes are only on paper; nothing is visible in reality. Haryana, the state topping the list in unemployment in the country, has been handed a bundle of disappointment, frustration and neglect by the BJP in the form of Budget. — Kumari Selja, Former Union Minister and Sirsa MP