Initiating a discussion on the Union Budget 2021- 22 in the Rajya Sabha, Kapil Sibal of the Congress Party today said the government talked of “atmanirbhar Bharat” (self-reliant India) but it had no heart for the poor, and had preferred growth without equity.

He said the BJP government had mismanaged the economy for the last five years, and forgotten the people of India. The government has to answer if Dalits, the minorities, the small traders, MSMEs, or the farmers on Delhi’s borders were “atmanirbhar,” he said.

Sibal said “there is jugglery of data, you are perpetuating a rigged economic system, establishing an oligarchic order. This is a classic case of crony capitalism. Who is buying ports and airports. Who is taking over this property,” he asked.

He said in 2018, one per cent of the country’s population owned 58 per cent of India’s total assets, one year later in 2019, the same one per cent population owned 73 per cent of the country’s assets. “This is a classic case of crony capitalism,” he said

Sibal said the government was backing the people who were cornering country’s wealth. “There were four-five big boys who owned all the assets,” he said, and there was one “big boy” who was “everywhere, railways, ports.” Niti Aayog and Finance Ministry opposed and still, airports were handed over, he said.

The Budget talked of “spend, spend and spend,” he said, whereas it should have said “borrow, borrow and borrow,” as the government was just borrowing to meet its expenditure. Sibal said there was 9.5 per cent fiscal deficit during 2020-21. The government’s revenues from taxes were 53 per cent and the rest from non-tax sources.

Tax collections were lower by 23 per cent, the target was Rs 24.2 lakh crore and the realisation was lower by Rs 5.24 lakh crore. The corporate tax collections were lower by Rs 2.34 lakh crore and the income tax collections lower by Rs 1.8 lakh crore. On what basis, the Budget had given its growth projections, he said.

Sibal said people wanted jobs and the Budget made no mention of employment. During the Lockdown, 120 million jobs were lost. The farmers wanted minimum support prices (MSP) for food grains, and the Government said the private trader will pay it. Then, why not put it in a law, he said.

The Congress member said the government was trying to do what the United States and European countries had done earlier, ruining their farmers. If 86 per cent farmers in India were small, and were forced to part with their lands, where would they go for livelihood, he asked.

Sibal said the banks’ unpaid loans had zoomed high because of default from real estate and power sectors. “The Budget is doing vote-bank politics by announcing projects for the states going to the polls soon,” he said.

Sushil Kumar Modi (BJP) said Covid-19 had brought an unprecedented crisis for the country, and if steps like a stringent lockdown were not taken by the Modi government, at least one more lakh people would have died. The Budget was welcomed by the stock market as the Sensex had crossed 51000 points.

The government gave free food to 80 crore people and 20 crore women were given financial transfers in their jan dhan accounts. If the revenues fell, this was because of the Covid lockdown. There was common fear that the government would impose a Covid cess, but this was not done, the BJP member said. Reliefs were given last year also.

He said the economy would make a V-shaped recovery, going by the trends since last July.