The Union Government’s Budget Continues to Betray Tamil Nadu!
The Union Government’s Budget Continues to Betray Tamil Nadu!
The People of Tamil Nadu Will Teach the BJP Alliance a Lesson in the Elections!
The ‘Union Budget’ presented today by the Union Finance Minister, instead of reviving the country’s economy, will only push it further into decline. The Viduthalai Chiruthaigal Katchi strongly condemns the Union BJP government for continuing to betray Tamil Nadu, without even taking into account that this is an election period.
There is not a single major project for Tamil Nadu. Not even an announcement for electoral purposes has been made. In railway corridor development, the ‘Chennai–Hyderabad’ and ‘Chennai–Bengaluru’ corridors have been mentioned. However, there is no railway project within Tamil Nadu itself.
The recommendation of the 16th Finance Commission to continue the states’ share in tax revenue at 41 percent has caused great disappointment to state governments, including Tamil Nadu. There is no relief whatsoever in personal income tax.
The value of the rupee has fallen to an unprecedented level. Economic inequality among the people has increased sharply over the past ten years. Even to confront American tariff coercion, the Modi government has so far been unable to enter into a trade agreement with the United States. The Modi government has also diluted the 100-day employment guarantee scheme that was created to provide security to crores of poor rural people. It was expected that this budget would take measures to address these issues. Instead, this budget has delivered a massive disappointment.
Unemployment has increased to alarming levels. Graduates under the Modi government are wandering without jobs commensurate with their education, working as “gig” workers. The ‘Make in India’ programme, announced with much fanfare when the Modi government assumed office, has turned out to be a massive failure. It had promised to increase the manufacturing sector’s share in Gross Domestic Product (GDP) to 25 percent and to create 10 crore jobs. Even after a decade of implementation, the manufacturing sector’s share in GDP has not crossed 15 to 17 percent. Though the Modi government promised to create 2 crore jobs every year, it has failed to create even 2 crore jobs in total in the organised sector over the last twelve years. There is not a single announcement in this budget to create employment.
The Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSME) sector, which has the potential to generate large-scale employment, has been severely affected by the Modi government’s economic policies. As a result, approximately 70,000 small and medium industrial units have been shut down between 2021 and 2025.
Workers dependent on the unorganised sector have also been pushed into severe distress. With the Modi government having dismantled existing labour protection laws, they have been driven into a situation with no safeguards whatsoever.
The sharp fall in the stock market immediately after the budget announcement itself reveals the magnitude of disappointment this budget has caused.
This is not merely a budget that betrays Tamil Nadu; it is a budget that delivers a massive disappointment to the entire population. In the forthcoming elections, the people of Tamil Nadu will teach the BJP alliance an appropriate lesson!
Thol. Thirumavalavan
Founder–President
Viduthalai Chiruthaigal Katchi