Leader of Opposition (LoP) in the Delhi Assembly, Atishi, on Tuesday criticized the budget presented by the BJP-led Delhi government, calling it a “hawa hawai” budget, lacking any economic foundation due to the absence of an Economic Survey before its presentation.
Addressing a press conference, Atishi remarked that if the budget were to be summed up in one phrase, it would be a “hawa-hawai budget.”
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“This so-called ₹1 lakh crore budget has no economic foundation. The moment Chief Minister Rekha Gupta presented it in the Assembly, it became clear why the BJP deliberately withheld the Economic Survey,” she stated.
Questioning the credibility of the budget figures, Atishi argued, “Had this ₹1 lakh crore budget been based on real revenue generation, the government would have presented the Economic Survey. But they didn’t, because the data would have exposed their ‘hawa-hawai’ budget, revealing it to be built on false numbers and imaginary projections.”
She further criticized the budget for slashing education funding. “For the first time in ten years, education has received its lowest allocation. Under the AAP government, nearly a quarter of the budget was dedicated to education. This year, however, for the first time in a decade, education funding has dropped below 20 percent,” she noted.
Atishi also accused the BJP of jeopardizing sanitation services in Delhi. “For the first time in history, the budget allocation for the MCD has been reduced—from ₹8,423 crore in 2024-25 to ₹6,897 crore this year—a shocking cut of ₹1,526 crore. The MCD’s budget has never been reduced from one year to the next. This proves the BJP’s intent: to dismantle education, wreck healthcare, and now, ruin sanitation services in Delhi,” she alleged.
