“No will, no new ideas,” Congress leader P. Chidambaram referred to the Union Budget 2025 announced Saturday morning. Speaking at a press conference, Chidambaram said that Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is wooing “the middle class and the Bihar electorate”.
“These announcements will be welcomed by the 3.2 crore tax-paying middle class and the 7.6 crore voters of Bihar,” he remarked, adding that “the rest of India” will barely be benefited. Chidambaram said that while presenting the budget, FM Sitharaman was primarily focused on upcoming elections in Bihar and Delhi.
He claimed that tax collections in 2024-25 were Rs 41,240 crore lower than expected, and total government income was Rs 26,439 crore less than the revised estimates. According to him, the government also cut its spending by over Rs 1 trillion, which has “mostly affected key sectors like education, social welfare, and rural development”.
While criticising the government for allegedly cutting funds meant for Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes, OBCs, and minority communities, Chidambaram claimed that schemes like the PM Anysuchit Jaati Abhyuday Yojana and scholarships for disadvantaged students have been severely impacted.
The Congress leader also spoke about the railways being “shortchanged”. The increase in railway spending for 2025-26 is “just Rs 766 crore”, which, he commented, is not even enough to cover inflation.
The government’s capacity has significantly diminished, Chidambaram stated, holding several “examples” of BJP schemes like POSHAN, Jal Jeevan Mission, NSAP, PMGSY, crop insurance scheme, urea subsidy and PM Garib Kalyan Anna Yojana.
Modi government’s “new employment generation schemes” and the Skill India programme were, too, criticised by the Congress leader.
Stressing upon the fiscal deficit estimates for FY 25-26, Chidambaramsaid, “There is nothing to cheer about the fact that the government has improved the fiscal deficit of the
As per him, India's economic growth in the year 2025-26 would be around 6 to 6.5 per cent, “a far cry from the 8 per cent growth rate that the chief economic advisor estimated in order to become a developed country”.
