The Punjab Congress on Monday hailed President Ramnath Kovind’s address on the inaugural day of Union budget session in New Delhi on Monday. In a Press statement issued on Monday, Punjab Congress chief Sunil Jakhar alleged that the President’s address normally reflects policies and programmes of the Union government but today it was silent on the core issues.

He alleged that the President’s address was focused on non-serious and indifferent attitude of the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) led government to resolve the problems which farmers, poor classes and small traders had been facing for the past three years.

Jakhar claimed it reflects the Union government’s negative attitude and once again indicates that it is least concerned about common people.

“Farmers are reeling under serious economic and social crisis. The cost of agricultural inputs is skyrocketing, but price of produce is not remunerative. Prime Minister had sold dreams claiming to double farmers’ income by 2022, but it visibly appears now that the government led by him is not going to turn the same into a reality,” he added.

Jakhar said the policy to provide jobs to youths was also missing from the Presidential address. “Unemployment triggers other social and economic problems. No efforts had been made since 2014 to explore employment avenues. PM has been playing politics only through each speech to appease poor people, but the so-called welfare schemes had not benefitted the downtrodden. Centre had been concentrating to extend maximum of favours to corporate houses,” he alleged.

Regretting that no road-map to simplify the Goods and Services Tax (GST) has been drawn up, the Congress leader said technical snags in the GST exercise had hit small farmers worst but the Centre had no planning to resolve the issues.

“Union government has yet to come out of the Gujarat election shock, but they are not ready to learn a lesson from the writing on the wall. The Swachh Bharat Mission could not be implemented in letter and spirit. Claims on industrial development in the border area are a farce. Border-belt residents stand by uniform-wearing saviors of our border, but Central leaders deliver only lip-sympathies. People are eagerly waiting to teach the NDA a befitting lesson when the country goes to polls in 2019,” he claimed.