Budget 2021: Opposing Just For The Sake Of Opposition
Linus tackles things head-on. He takes sides in his analysis and it fits excellently with our editorial policy. No 'maybe's' and 'allegedly' for him, only things in black and white.
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By Linus Garg
First publised on 2021-02-02 01:46:10
About the Author
Linus tackles things head-on. He takes sides in his analysis and it fits excellently with our editorial policy. No 'maybe's' and 'allegedly' for him, only things in black and white.
View all posts by this Author
It was very interesting to see the reaction of opposition leaders to the Budget 2021. For the last few months, economists were flaying this government for not investing in infrastructure and others sectors to sustain the green shoots that were showing up in the economy after the lockdown. Yet, when the finance minister presents a revival budget by stretching the fiscal deficit to 9.5% in order to make substantial investments in many sectors to kick start the economy and generate jobs, the opposition slams it as a "pro-corporate" budget.
All experts were afraid that the government did not have money to spend and would take advantage of Covid situation to raise taxes and burden the taxpayers. Yet when the finance minister has steered clear of such imposition, the opposition is now saying that the budget has nothing for the middle classes. Is not raising taxes and finding the money to invest from other sources a huge relief for the middle class? Yes the finance minister could have thought of the problems being faced by the salaried class and increased the limit of standard deduction, but otherwise the middle class is not unduly burdened.
The worst reaction was from Congress leader and former finance minister P Chidambaram who chose to highlight just the fact that the finance minister had imposed a cess on petrol and diesel that would make them costlier. He conveniently forgot to add that Sitharaman had simultaneously lowered the excise duty on both products to offset the effect of the cess and petrol and diesel will not become costlier. The cess was imposed only to channelize the amount for specific needs and it is not intended to increase the price or place additional burden on consumers. Being a former finance minister, Chidambaram should have presented the correct picture to the people. Opposing just for the sake of opposition is not done.
