The Union Budget 2017 was a “big letdown” and Union finance minister Arun Jaitley “played a game with statistics to draw a wrong picture” that some of the recent decisions including demonetisation helped boost India’s economy, Kerala finance minister Thomas Issac said on Wednesday.
“It is a directionless exercise. There were some announcements, but funds were not allocated. He (Jaitley) tried his best to give a picture that some of the recent decisions helped the economy. He can’t fool people who suffered the worst under the present regime,” said Issac.
Kerala’s opposition leader Ramesh Chennithala also criticised the budget, saying the state’s long-pending demand for an AIIMS was overlooked again.
“We were promised an AIIMS two years ago, but this time too, the state was ignored. Wallowing under the impact of demonetisation, people expected some big announcements, but Jaitley played jugglery with statistics. The budget lacks vision and direction,” he said.