After the results of Lok Sabha elections on June 4 in Modi Government 3.0, the most talked about thing is now the General Budget. There are two reasons behind this. The first is that the opposition is attacking the government regarding the budget, while the second reason is that Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman has set a new record by presenting the budget for the seventh time. This is the first time that a Finance Minister has presented the budget seven consecutive times. Amidst all this, Aaj Tak had a special conversation with Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman. During this period, the Finance Minister answered many questions candidly.
The opposition rejected the allegations of ‘save chair’ and ‘cut and paste’ budget of the first general budget of Modi government 3.0 and called it a gimmick of Congress. The Finance Minister said that a lot of work had already been done on our budget at the time of vote on account (interim budget). The subjects of that vote on account are also mentioned in this budget, because that was the budget for the first four months of this financial year and this is the budget for the remaining 8 months. The more important issue is that this is the budget that will decide the direction of the coming 5 years, which are the five years of Amritkaal. What will be the place of women in it, what will they do for the poor, what will they do for the food providers, what will they do for the youth.
He said that keeping in mind the developed India, we had mentioned this at the time of Vote on Account itself. Now we have talked about it in detail in this budget. So there is no right to claim ‘cut paste’ in this. If India has to be a developed India by 2047, then what we are going to do in the first five years in the path that we are making for that, the Prime Minister had already said through our budget before the elections. Who are the ones claiming cut and paste in this? Do the claimants have any rights? I want to completely reject this drama that the Congress party is doing to mislead the public.
What did the Finance Minister say on giving importance to states with allies?
On the allegations of giving more importance to Bihar and Andhra Pradesh, the states ruled by NDA’s allies JDU and TDP, in the general budget, Nirmala Sitharaman said that I want to ask the other states that if there is one state in India which has They don’t even have a capital till date, so is it a crime to help them? If there was a UPA government today, would it have denied this to Andhra Pradesh? The right has been given in the Andhra Pradesh Reorganization Act that you should have a capital. The central government will help for that. Will the UPA government deny this? According to the law that partition took place in India, should there not be a capital in that state? What argument are these people making? Will the country move forward or not?
He said that I thought that through this election, just as the party is elected by the public through votes to form the government, in the same way the opposition has also been really elected this time. Meaning, with 50 seats you are probably not able to present the issues in Parliament with strength, so take 40 more seats. Still the public did not let him cross 100. Will you play the role of a strong opposition or just keep doing gimmicks?
Will provide permanent solution to Bihar floods: Finance Minister
Nitish Kumar was demanding special status for Bihar. But his demand was not accepted. But assistance of Rs 58 thousand crore has been given to Bihar, because this state is flood affected. So will this continue further? In response to this question, the Finance Minister said that in case of floods, floods in Bihar and Assam occur due to rivers flowing from other places. For decades, discussions have been going on with Nepal about building a dam, which can prevent floods in Bihar. But talks are still going on. We are seeing that every year there is loss of property and life in Bihar. There is a lot of discussion on this. I also said in the budget speech that a technical team will go and check how to stop floods in Bihar even after building a dam in Nepal. Then that team will tell us what can be done. We are working to find a permanent solution to this flood problem. Budget has been given for this.
Nirmala Sitharaman said this regarding the budget speeches of the UPA government
On allegations like fighting in Delhi and Lucknow and taking revenge after loss in Maharashtra, the Finance Minister said that this is wrong propaganda. Yesterday, when Leader of Opposition Mallikarjun Kharge was speaking in the Rajya Sabha, I also replied to him. Was the amount and projects to be given to each state mentioned in the budget speech at the time of Congress? I challenge you to take out all his speeches and watch them. Was the budget of the states which were not mentioned in his speeches stopped? It was not stopped then and it is not stopped even now. They (opposition) do not have to tell the truth. Just making baseless allegations. We are working in all the states without taking names. Like Vadavan Port Maharashtra was mentioned in Rajya Sabha, but the name of the state was not taken in the vote on account. So this does not mean that there will be no work there. When we were sitting in the opposition, we never asked the Congress why the names of Tamil Nadu or Jammu and Kashmir did not come up. We thought that the money would go. If there is any important issue then ask a question. They are raising questions about what it means that they are not doing anything for our state. This country is not ours?