Senior Congress leader and former finance minister P.Chidambaram termed the budget presented by Arun Jaitley as a “damp squib and disappointing.” However, he also had a few words of praise for initiatives that were part of the budget document.
"People affected by the demonetisation were looking for some relief, but nothing has been given to them, neither anything to help the farmers in distress or create new jobs." Chidambaram was addressing a press conference at the party head quarters.
Earlier, Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi had also termed NDA government's fourth budget as a damp squib.
“The sections of the people most affected by demonetisation were the farmers, farm workers, manual labourers, the self-employed, artisans and micro, small and medium businesspersons. They lost crores of rupees in the form of wages, incomes and capital. There is absolutely nothing in the budget for these sections,” the former finance minister added.
When asked how he would have handled demonetisation had be been the FM, Chidambaram said he would have resigned the next day.
The Congress leader said people have stopped talking about the budget in a single day, and despite some emphasis on elections bound states, people will not be enthused.
Chidambaram rubbed it in saying that most important positive in the budget was that the government seems chastened after the debacle of demonetisation and has not done anything reckless or disruptive. “I compliment the Finance minister on adopting a tone of moderation,” he said.
The Congress leader did not shy away from listing a few positives which he said made him happy. Initiatives like cap on cash transaction above Rs three lakhs, cleaning up of election funding, introduction of electoral bonds, promise to build more houses for the poor, farm insurance and upping the medical seats by 5,000, were listed by Chidambaram as positives.
Coming to the financial aspects of the budget, Chidambaram said that the gross fixed capital formation (GFCF) had declined since the NDA government assumed office. According to the Economic Survey, it was 4.9 per cent in 2014-15, 3.9 per cent in 2015-16 and has precipitously fallen to -0.2 per cent in 2016-17. "There is absolutely nothing in the budget in terms of either new strategy or policy measures to revive private investment."
He argued that the impacts of the demonetisation, in terms of lower growth, would be felt even in the coming fiscal. “There is absolutely nothing in the budget that points to measures to revive flagging growth,” he added.
“I am disappointed that the government has not used the opportunity to push through bold reforms, revive aggregate demand and growth, and devise new strategies for job creation,” Chidambaram summed up.
