Manas Dasgupta
NEW DELHI, July 25: Even as the opposition INDIA bloc continued to attack the union budget as the “kursi bachao budget” dolling out bonanza for Andhra Pradesh and Bihar to save the Narendra Modi government 3.0 dependent on the two key NDA allies, and the ruling BJP dubbing the criticism “outrageous,” the experts point out that it was merely a role reversal of what was witnessed in Parliament a decade back.
During the rule of the Congress-led UPA government I and II from 2004 to 2014 headed by the Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, it was the BJP, then in the opposition, was criticising the Congress government for compromises to save the government and the Congress vociferously refuting the charges. The experts point out that no one perhaps understand and realise the compulsions of coalition politics than Dr Singh, who all the 10 years headed coalition governments under constant threat of being thrown out of power if any of the alliance partners walked out of the arrangement.
For the Prime Minister Narendra Modi, he has just stepped into Dr Singh’s shoes in heading a coalition government dependent on the Telegu Desam Party (TDP) and the Janata Dal (United) to survive, after enjoying 10 years of absolute power when his BJP was having a majority of its own. The 2024-25 Union budget is the first major step where the Modi government’s compulsions of coalition politics has been amply reflected.
As the debate on budget resumed on Thursday, the opposition members in both the Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha labelled it as ‘Kursi Bachao’ (save the regime), saying the BJP had to buckle under pressure from two main allies — Andhra Pradesh’s TDP and Bihar’s JDU — and give them the lion’s share. The Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman continue to forcefully reject the narrative by saying all states had been accounted for.
The Lower House witnessed multiple disruptions as Opposition termed the Union budget as ‘skewed towards Andhra Pradesh and Bihar.’ Some have also termed the budget as a copy of the Opposition’s manifesto. The Upper House also witnessed similar accusations with MPs claiming that the budget was anti-poor, anti-tribal, anti-women and a tax burden. NDA MPs have defended claiming that the budget was visionary and paved way for a historic third Modi term.
A decade back, the Dr Singh’s government had faced similar predicament and the BJP, then the main opposition, was on the offensive. Many of Dr Singh’s pet projects had to be either put on hold or cancelled because the allies posed a threat to his government. In fact, Congress, as a party, forced Singh to push his dream projects on the backburner.
In 2009 when UPA government returned to power and Dr Singh became the Prime Minister for the second term, on the very first day he faced pressure and his decision to not let some DMK leaders like TR Balu and A Raja become ministers again had to be rolled back because a miffed DMK said it would not be a part of his government.
Singh had two pet projects that he felt would work for the economy and also generate jobs. One was his plan to raise the Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) cap in three important sectors — telecom, insurance and civil aviation. The CPI(M) objected to the move, saying it would compromise on national security and cause unnecessary outflow of foreign exchange through the repatriation of profits.
The second step was to put on hold Singh’s proposal of FDI in retail. Not just the then opposition like BJP but even its own allies like the Left objected to the move and there was a chance that the prime minister would not get the numbers in Parliament. Hence, this proposal too was rolled back.
But what was more embarrassing was a diplomatic U-turn in 2011 when Singh planned a trip to Dhaka with Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee but she opted out as she was against the signing of the Teesta water-sharing deal between India and Bangladesh. The agreement had to be put on hold as Banerjee, a powerful ally, refused to budge.
Apart from these, there have been other instances such as the headache over signing of the India-US nuclear deal, when Singh had to depend on the Samajwadi Party and Banerjee to ensure the deal was through. The many flip-flops earned the tag of ‘Rollback PM’ for Dr Singh and at more than one occasion he had to gulp his pride to save his ‘kursi.’
Continuing the attack on the government on Thursday, the Congress member from Telangana C Kiran Kumar Reddy claimed Telangana had been kept out of the budget for all the 10 years the Modi government was in power. Pointing to the government allocating Rs 15,000 crore towards the Andhra Pradesh Reorganisation Act, Mr Reddy stated it included Telangana as well but was kept away. He accused the Bharatiya Rashtra Samithi (BRS) of supporting the BJP “indirectly” in the past but did not achieve anything and thus were no more represented in the house. “Yesterday’s budget was a total disaster and Telangana was kept away from it,” Mr Reddy stated. He concluded his speech accusing the treasury of “political survival”. He said the “budget was of the people, and everybody should get a stake.”
DMK MP Tiruchi Siva expresses concern over misuse of quota in the civil services examinations. “The rampant misuse of reservations intended for persons with disabilities and economically weaker sections for recruitment of civil servants is a grave issue that casts a shadow on the sanctity of our public service institutions.”
“Various incidents have recently come to light where candidates are falsely claiming disabilities or economic hardships to secure a competitive edge undermining the principle of justice these provisions were designed to uphold. This alarming trend not only deprives generally deserving candidates of the rightful opportunities but also erodes public confidence in our well-intentioned reservation policies. It is blatant exploitation of an essential system,” the MP added.
The TMC MP Dola Sen said, “India’s income inequality is at an all-time high. Any sensible government would have reduced the tax burden on the middle class and increased taxes on billionaires, but not Modi babu’s mili-juli government and Nirmala ji’s Budget. This is so unfortunate.” The Bengal MP demanded the Central government to return to the old tax regime.