"Old Rhetoric", "Attack On Subsidies": Priyanka Gandhi Slams Union Budget

Congress general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra on Tuesday slammed the Union Budget, saying it was nothing but old "jumlas (rhetoric)" and an "attack on subsidies".

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman unveiled a Rs 39.45 lakh crore Budget, with higher spending on highways to affordable housing to fire up the key engines of the economy to sustain a world-beating recovery from the pandemic.

While she primed up spending on infrastructure to create jobs and boost economic activity, Ms Sitharaman did not tinker with income tax slabs or tax rates.

Reacting to the Budget, Priyanka Gandhi said in a tweet in Hindi, "Farmers' income has not doubled. No tax exemption has been given to the middle class. No relief from inflation, no relief to small industries. No employment for youth."

"Just an attack on subsidy and 'jumlas' that have become old. This is the essence of the Modi government's budget," the Congress general secretary in charge of Uttar Pradesh said.

The government's subsidies on food, fertilisers and petroleum are estimated to decline by 39 per cent to Rs 4,33,108 crore in the current fiscal, according to the Budget document.

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