LUCKNOW: Opposition parties took pot shots at the UP government over its “biggest budget”, saying it is all “talk and no reality...visionless and misleading.”
Samajwadi Party (SP) president Akhilesh Yadav, bringing his party’s emphasis on PDA (Picchde, Dalit and Alpsankhyak), said: “The budget has nothing for the PDA - 90% of the population...it is only for 10% people. The budget is about taking money from 90% to give it to 10% people.”
“Like always, the UP government has yet again presented its biggest budget ever. The government at the centre for 10 years and in the state for seven years, and in both places, the leadership has not changed. One of them shows the dream of a 5 trillion-dollar economy, and the other shows the dream of a one trillion-dollar economy. If the economy is growing so big, how come the roads are potholed, farmers are more distressed than ever, and youth have no jobs? The government did not talk about MSP for crops,” asked Yadav at a press conference.
READ | UP Budget: Rural development, panchayati raj get lion’s share
He said the government has stopped talking about jobs and talks about rozgaar (employment). “The government calls mazdoori (labour) as employment. Youth of UP are going to Israel for lack of jobs here. Is it honourable work there? They are going there in distress and under compulsion. They are going to countries where war will never end. The youth are risking their lives, and this government is taking advantage of the compulsion that the people have,” said Yadav.
{{/usCountry}}He said the government has stopped talking about jobs and talks about rozgaar (employment). “The government calls mazdoori (labour) as employment. Youth of UP are going to Israel for lack of jobs here. Is it honourable work there? They are going there in distress and under compulsion. They are going to countries where war will never end. The youth are risking their lives, and this government is taking advantage of the compulsion that the people have,” said Yadav.
{{/usCountry}}The SP chief said the budget is such that it will further widen the social and economic gaps.
Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) chief Mayawati, in a statement on her X, said; “UP government’s budget looks more aimed at deriving election benefits than being of public interest. Announcements, promises and claims are all fine, but did the government fulfil all its development-related promises it had made earlier? This needs to be analysed.”
Congress Legislative Party (CLP) leader Aradhana Mishra ‘Mona’ said: “It (budget) only has big size and big numbers, otherwise it is a directionless budget.”
“Just the size and numbers do not make a budget successful. Even though the previous budget was big in size and numbers, 40% of the departments did not utilize their allocations. The government is harping on the big budget, but not even 10% of it is for new schemes,” she added.
“The manufacturing sector has been completely ignored in the so-called big budget,” she added.
Rashtriya Lok Dal, national secretary, Anupam Mishra termed the budget: “Directionless, misleading, anti-farmer, and anti-youth. It has no schemes and provisions that would lead to the state’s economic development.”
RLD spokesperson Anil Dubey said: “The budget is disappointing for farmers, youth, and the general public. In these many years, the government could not have its pulse on the aspirations of youth, women, farmers.”