Union Budget 2019: a mere political gimmick to allure people

Chandigarh, February 1: Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) Punjab Unit president and Sangrur Member of Parliament (MP) said that the union budget 2019 was nothing but a mere political gimmick to lure the gullible people ahead of the Lok Sabha elections 2019. In a statement issued from the party headquarters here on Friday, Mann said the sole objective of the budget was to entrap the people by offering them small sops.

He added that the ploy would not work this time around as the people had enough of this budget ‘jhumla’ during the past budgets it presented. He said that the common man had been hit hard every time the budget was presented by the union government, leaving a vast majority high and dry.

Mann further said that the provision of annual payment of Rs six thousand to the farmers owning two hectare (5 acre) land holdings under the Pradhan Mantri Kissan Samman Nidhi was akin to adding salt to injuries. The need of the hour was to salvage the debt ridden farmers by allowing loan waivers and to ensure remunerative prices for their produce.

He demanded that the Modi government should immediately implement the recommendation of the Swaminathan Commission instead of giving them small consolations in terms of granting sops offered in the budget. The MP lamented that the budget had nothing for the youth, touted to be the future of the country. He said the government in the saddle had made tall promises to generate 2 crore employments for the youth per year in the country,

but nothing concrete had come about, leaving them with no choice but to try their luck on the foreign shores, he further said. Mann said that the budget was anti-students that had left them totally dismayed and disillusioned. He said that by holding back the university grants since 2014 showed the anti-student face of the saffron party holding the fort in Delhi.

Mann said that last budget of its tenure presented by the government had brought disquiet among the farming community, the youth and the students among others in the country, who would ventilate their ire by voting the Modi  juggernaut out of power in the ensuing Lok Sabha polls.