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India’s opposition-controlled states slammed Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government after it allocated billions of dollars in funds to two of his allies in this year’s budget.
Parliamentarians in the upper house walked out of Wednesday’s session after the Indian National Congress party complained on behalf of the opposition that the budget was unfair, did not distribute revenue evenly and was intended to appease the government’s two key regional allies. “We condemn this and we protest against it,” said Mallikarjun Kharge, Congress’ president. “If there is no balance, then how can development take place?”
M.K. Stalin, chief minister of Tamil Nadu, called the budget a ”great betrayal” to his state on Tuesday, saying it didn’t allocate any specific funds to the province despite its significant contribution to the overall economy. He said the budget showed Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party was settling “electoral scores” by satisfying the demands of its coalition partners while ignoring the rest of the country, local media reported.
The BJP lost its majority in the parliament after recent elections and formed a government with regional parties in the states of Andhra Pradesh and Bihar. In Tuesday’s budget, the finance minister announced 150 billion rupees ($1.8 billion) of funding through multilateral agencies to Andhra Pradesh for the current financial year, with additional amounts in future years. Bihar would be allocated funds for roads, medical colleges and railways, the minister said.
The government denied the opposition’s charges that it is favoring the two states. “In every budget, you don’t get an opportunity to name every state of the country,” said Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Wednesday. “This is an outrageous allegation.”
Opposition-controlled states, including Kerala and Karnataka, said the budget allocations were discriminatory. Kerala’s Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan said the budget took steps to “constrain the finances of states, which poses a significant challenge to our autonomy and development.”
Rahul Gandhi, who leads India’s opposition in parliament, on Tuesday said Modi’s budget was full of “hollow promises” aimed at appeasing allies with promises that come at a cost to everyday Indians.
--With assistance from Preeti Soni.
(Updated with details on parliamentary developments in second and fifth paragraph)
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