Kerala Finance Minister K.N. Balagopal (file)
| Photo Credit: S. MAHINSHA
Kerala Finance Minister K. N. Balagopal on July 23 slammed the 2024-25 Union Budget, calling it a “gimmick” and a “political exercise” solely intended to protect the interests of the BJP-led NDA government.
“While the Union Budget is bitterly disappointing for the nation as a whole, for Kerala, especially, the Budget has failed to address any of its just demands,” he said.
The Budget has ignored Kerala’s demand for a ₹24,000-crore special economic package, a special assistance of ₹5,000 crore for the Vizhinjam international seaport project and the long-standing demand for an All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS), Mr. Balagopal noted.
“While the BJP opened its account in Kerala, Kerala’s account has been closed,” Mr. Balagopal remarked, in an apparent reference to the BJP candidate Suresh Gopi’s win in the Thrissur Lok Sabha constituency in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections and subsequent appointment as Minister of State alongside George Kurian.
Calls for united stand
Mr. Balagopal called for a united stand on the part of everyone, including the BJP Union Ministers from the State, the Opposition Congress-UDF MPs, to fight for the State’s rightful share.
At the national level, by ignoring large swathes of the country and focussing on a few regions, Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman has indulged in an exercise aimed at boosting the “health and long life” of the Modi government, he said.
“In this aspect, the Budget is unprecedented in the history of the country and proves that Prime Minister Narendra Modi has no right to speak about federalism and cooperative federalism,” he alleged.
“Instead of a Budget that pays attention to the future and the development of the nation and the progress of the people, this Budget in reality places emphasis on Modi government’s health and long life. It is nothing more than a gimmick and a political exercise,” he said.
Mr. Balagopal also accused Ms. Sitharaman of slashing allocations for key sectors. According to him, the food subsidy has been slashed from over ₹2,72,000 crore in 2022-23 to ₹2,05,250 crore, and fertilizer subsidy from ₹2,51,000-plus crore to ₹1,64,000 crore. The allocation for Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme also has plummeted from ₹90,806 crore in 2022-23 to ₹86,000 crore, he alleged.
“While the Budget talks big about employment generation, the allocation for the Prime Minister’s Employment Generation Programme scheme has come down from ₹2,733 crore to ₹2,300 crore,” he said.
