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Budget shows hope to build new, self-reliant India, says Anurag Thakur
Anurag Thakur also addressed the farmers’ stir issue and challenged the Congress and Opposition leaders to show where it was written that mandi and minimum support price system will end.
Minister of state for finance and corporate affairs Anurag Thakur on Friday said the budget presented by Union finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman earlier this month shows a hope to build a “new, stronger and self-reliant India.” The budget will set India on the path of becoming an economic and manufacturing powerhouse, Thakur said in the Rajya Sabha.
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The minister's remark comes ahead of Sitharaman's reply to the discussion on Union Budget in Rajya Sabha later today. The finance minister had on February 1 announced a slew of measures to aid the recovery of the economy battered by the coronavirus disease (Covid-19) and also focused on improving infrastructure.
Thakur also addressed the farmers’ stir issue and challenged the Congress and Opposition leaders to show where it was written that mandi and minimum support price system will end as the new agricultural laws come into force. “We are committed to taking India forward,” he said. Earlier this week, Prime Minister Narendra Modi too assured that MSP will continue and that the government was ready to hold talks with the protesting farmers, who have been agitating at Delhi borders demanding a repeal of three farm laws enacted by the Centre in September last year.
On Thursday, Thakur launched a veiled attack at Congress leader Rahul Gandhi, claiming the latter wasn’t prepared to speak about the budget. "A senior MP was speaking before me, so I thought he must be knowing the rules of this House and that if one issue has already been discussed, it is not discussed again. Secondly, I can understand that he was not prepared for the Budget," Thakur said while participating in the debate on the budget in the Lok Sabha.
On Gandhi’s allegation that there is no provision of closing mandis in the new farm legislation, Thakur said, "This indicates the depth of their (Congress) knowledge and reading. They do not have the basic information."
