Former Congress president Rahul Gandhi on Saturday slammed the Union Budget 2020-21 tabled by Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman. Speaking to reporters outside the Parliament, Rahul said that the Finance Minister gave the longest Budget speech ever but had nothing for common people. He said that the Finance Minister did not talk about unemployment and youths.
“The main issue facing is unemployment. I didn’t see any strategic idea that would help our youth get jobs. I saw tactical stuff but no central idea,” he said.
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“It describes government well, lot of repetition, rambling. It is mindset of the government, all talk, but nothing happening. Maybe this was the longest Budget speech in history but it had nothing, it was hollow,” he added.
Sitharaman presented the second budget of the Modi government on Saturday. The FM did not complete her speech, which was the longest ever. She had to cut short her speech because she felt unwell. She had to leave the last two pages of her speech as she said the last pages should be considered read.
Soon after she ended her speech, her colleague Harsimrat Kaur was seen offering her a glass of water.
Sitharaman broke her own record of the longest Budget speech ever. Last year, she spoke for two hours and 17 minutes. This year, she spoke for two hours and 41 minutes. In 2014, then Finance minister Arun Jaitley’s speech lasted two hours and 10 minutes.
The Congress party too has expressed disappointment over the Union Budget. The grand old party tweeted that the Modi government failed to layout a roadmap on addressing the fall in core sector growth. “Longest Budget speech and most lacklustre. After Acche Din, New India, it appears government also abandoned USD 5 trillion economy target,” the party said.
