“A band-aid for bullet wounds, government bankrupt of ideas”: Rahul Gandhi slams union budget

New Delhi [India], February 1 (ANI): Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Saturday described the union budget as “a band-aid for bullet wounds” and said the “government is bankrupt of ideas” to boost the economy and increase employment.

The budget 2025-26 was presented by Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman in Parliament on Saturday.

Congress leaders have slammed the budget. “A band-aid for bullet wounds! Amid global uncertainty, solving our economic crisis demanded a paradigm shift. But this government is bankrupt of ideas,” Rahul Gandhi, who is Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha, said in a post on X.

Party leader Jairam Ramesh said that the government has done little to address the problems concerning the economy.

“The economy is suffering from four related crises – i. Stagnant real wages ii. Lack of buoyancy in mass consumption iii. Sluggish rates of private investment iv. A complex and complicated GST system The Budget does NOTHING to address these illnesses. The only relief has been for income tax payers. What actual impact this will have on the economy remains to be seen,” he said on X.

Congress general secretary KC Venugopal said that the Union Budget was, for most parts, a reading of mundane circulars and minor tinkering that will do nothing to revive India’s tottering economy.

“For 11 years in a row, the Government has tried to hoodwink the public by giving empty slogans, with no vision or relief for the poor and marginalised sections of society. No vision for job creation, nothing to improve India’s investment climate, no MSP guarantee for farmers and no strategy to counter the massive inflation destroying budgets of middle class households,” he said in a post on X.

He alleged that the budget shows yet another attempt at destroying MGNREGA “as the Centre failed to increase the budget allocated for the scheme that provides a safety net for crores of Indians”.

Venugopal said the changes in income tax also are minor course corrections “after massive tax terrorism and other disastrous policies that the Government itself unleashed on the middle class”.

He said party leader Rahul Gandhi has been routinely exposing the decisions of the government that hit the poor and the middle class.

“The Budget has sent a message that this government is only capable of indulging in election-related gimmicks for their politics, but cannot address the severe economic distress being experienced across the country today,” he said.

Congress MP Shashi Tharoor also criticized the budget and said that to benefit from tax exemption, one actually needs an income source.

Speaking with ANI, Shashi Tharoor said that unemployment was not mentioned by the Finance Minister.

“I think, frankly, the applause you heard from the BJP benches was for the middle-class tax cut. We look at the details and that may be a good thing. So if you have a salary, you may be paying less tax. But the important question is, what happens if we don’t have a salary?” Tharoor asked.

“Where is the income going to come from? For you to benefit from income tax relief, you actually need jobs. Unemployment was not mentioned by the Finance Minister. Ironic that the party that wants One Nation One Election is actually using each election in each state each year to give them more freebies. They may as well have multiple elections so they can get more applause from their allies,” he added.

In her budget speech, the Finance Minister proposed that there will be no income tax on average monthly income of up to Rs one lakh to boost middle-class household savings and consumption.

She said the budget aims to initiate transformative reforms across six domains. During the next five years, these will augment our growth potential and global competitiveness. The domains are – taxation, power sector, urban development, mining, financial sector and regulatory reforms.