Chief minister Mamata Banerjee today slammed the Centre’s proposal to sell a part of its shares in LIC, describing it as a plan to “ambush” the legacy of public institutions while state finance minister Amit Mitra said that the Union Budget has pushed the Indian economy from the ICU to the ventilator. Unveiling the Union Budget 2020-21, Union finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman said that the Centre proposes to sell a part of its holding in LIC through initial public offer.

Taking to Twitter, Miss Banerjee said: “I am shocked and appalled to see how the Central government plans to ambush the heritage and legacy of public institutions. It’s the end of sense of security. Is it also an end of an era?”

I am shocked & appalled to see how the Central Government plans to ambush the heritage & legacy of public institutions.

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It’s the end of a sense of security.

Is it also the end of an era?#LIC #IndianRailways #AirIndia #BSNL

— Mamata Banerjee (@MamataOfficial) February 1, 2020

Established in 1956, LIC is fully owned by the Central government and has the highest market share in the life insurance segment in the country.

Echoing the same concern while criticising the Union Budget, Mr Mitra said: “The Union Budget has now sent Indian economy from the ICU into ventilator. It’s having difficulty in breathing. This Budget is anti-people, thoughtless and has left out the bottom of the pyramid in every manner”. According to Mr Mitra, prior to the Budget, the GDP was at an 11-year low, private consumption at sevenyear low, investments 17-year low, manufacturing 15 yearlow, agriculture four-year low. In this situation, none of these areas have been addressed by the Budget, he added.

“You’ll be shocked to know that radical reduction has taken place in Central funds for schemes of agriculture, health, education, SC and ST and together they constitute a reduction of 8.9 per cent. This means this government does not have any vision about the social infrastructure. In contrast to this, in Bengal agriculture has grown by nine times in the last seven years and social sector has grown by 4.5 times. This is Mamata Banerjee’s vision of taking the bottom of the pyramid to the centrestage of economy,” Mr Mitra said.

The finance minister said that the allocation for 100- day work or MGNREGA has “shockingly been reduced in this Budget while Bengal has the highest number of days as well as allocation”. National Health Mission funding has been reduced by one per cent which has never happened before, he claimed adding: “We did not hear anything about giving employment to the unemployed. But what we heard was privatisation of Railways and LIC. We have all invested in LIC but it has already been put in the ICU with 30,000 crore in terms of non-performing assets”. Mr Mitra said that the tax reduction for the middle class is “nothing but a bluff”.