Budget has no steps to address structural challenges economy is facing: Opposition

Opposition parties criticize Union Budget 2025 as election-driven, lacking solutions for economic challenges, misleading on income tax cuts.

Expressing disappointment at the Union Budget presented by Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Saturday (February 1, 2025), Opposition parties said it was geared for the Bihar Assembly polls scheduled for later this year and there were no measures to address the structural challenges that the economy was facing.

Income tax cuts announced were misleading and only aimed to fool the Delhi electorate, who vote on February 5, several Opposition leaders said.

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Rashtriya Janata Dal MP Manoj K. Jha said the Finance Minister announced income tax cuts but in the same breath she said the government would be bringing in a new income tax Bill next week. “The ifs and buts in the announcement are not yet clear. The reason why they will wait to bring the new income tax bill next week is because by then Delhi would have voted,” he said.

DMK MP Dayanidhi Maran called the Budget a “big letdown” for the country.

“It is a big letdown for the country, especially for the middle class. The Finance Minister claims she is giving tax exemption up to ₹12 lakh, but the very next line was, there is 10% tax slab for ₹8 lakh to 10 lakh income,” he said.

Samajwadi Party president Akhilesh Yadav said the Budget did not reflect the ground realities. “The government claims that it will construct world-class infrastructure but look at the state of our cities, they are choked. The Budget is merely a web of numbers to mislead the common man,” he said. Citing the examples of Varanasi, Prayagraj and Ayodhya, he said the three holy cities were crumbling under pressure with no infrastructure to support the crowds coming there.