‘Directionless’ disappointed all sections of society: Maha Congress president

Maharashtra State Congress President Harshwardhan Sapkal has dismissed the Union Budget 2026-27, presented by the Narendra Modi government on Sunday, as “no different than its previous budget”.

“This budget is not meant to satisfy any social class, but is only limited to some big figures and claims. Figures have been manipulated in this budget and it is completely directionless,” Sapkal said.

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“Actually, a very good strategy is needed for large-scale employment generation in the country, but there is no clear direction for employment generation in this budget. No concrete provision has been made in the interests of farmers. No relief has been given to the employed class and the middle class who pay income tax. Even achieving declared growth rate targets seems difficult and everything seems limited to only announcements,” Sapkal said.

“After demonetisation and GST, small and medium enterprises of the country got completely weakened. This sector has not received any solid support from this budget either. Most of the employment generation in the country is from this sector, but the government has completely ignored this reality. Unemployment has increased in a big way during the tenure of the Modi government. According to the latest data, one out of two graduates is unemployed. Unemployment has gone up to more than 50%. The Modi government has completely failed in terms of investment and employment generation,” Sapkal said.

“India is an agricultural country, but this budget has disappointed farmers. The target of doubling farmers’ income has not been met since the last 12 years. On the contrary, the input cost of farming has doubled, agricultural produce is not getting fair prices, no concrete decision has been taken on the minimum support price and farmer suicides are on the rise. There is no concrete provision in the budget to mitigate any of these serious issues. The government should understand that farmers’ problems cannot be solved by simply paying them Rs 6,000 annually,” Sapkal said.

“The government has claimed that 25 crore people have been lifted out of poverty in 10 years, but the reality is that 80 crore people are still being given a free ration of 5 kg of grain. So how logical is the claim that 25 crore people have been lifted out of poverty? It is purely a statistical jugglery. The price of gold has reached Rs lakh per 10 grams and the price of silver has reached Rs 4 lakh per kg, but the government has no plan to control these prices. No concrete policy to control inflation is visible,” Sapkal said.

“The Central government is under a heavy debt burden. Schemes are being run by taking loans, but there is no improvement in the standard of living of our people. Income and wealth inequality in India today has reached historic heights. About 58% of the country’s total income goes to the top 10%, while only 15% of income reaches the bottom 50%. About 40% of the country’s total wealth is concentrated in the hands of merely the top 1% of people. This is not merely a statistic, but a situation which shows a deep imbalance in the economic structure of our country. Yet, there is not even a single word about this inequality in this budget or any measure to remove this inequality,” Sapkal said.