The opposition INDIA bloc MPs, including Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge, Congress Parliamentary Party chief Sonia Gandhi and Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi, staged a protest in Parliament premises on Wednesday over the alleged discrimination against opposition-ruled states in this year’s Union Budget.

MALLIKARJUN KHARGE, Congress President:

“The Budget 2024 has been unfair to so many states and people of this country, that is why we are protesting against it.”

The protest on the steps of the parliament building saw participation not only from the senior leaders of the Congress party but also from MPs of various other opposition parties including the TMC, Samajwadi Party, DMK, and the Left.

SHASHI THAROOR, Congress MP:

“We are protesting against the blatant discrimination in the budget. Every MP from every different state other than Andhra and Bihar has something to be unhappy about. Kerala, Maharashtra, Telangana. MP’s are pointing out about their states being ignored. This kind of discrimination is not acceptable from a budget that is not about two states but is about the whole country.”

Samajwadi party Rajya Sabha MP, Jaya Bachchan slammed the budget, saying it made false promises to the youth.

JAYA BACHCHAN, SP MP:

“It is only the states, even the country has been deprived. The youth has been given false promises which is not going to be possible. 50,000 youth you are going to give job to, what happens to 25,000 already waiting? Are you going to accommodate them as well? Are they included so it becomes 75,000? What is this rubbish? False promises which will never be fulfilled.”

SP chief Akhilesh Yadav expressed his disappointment with the Budget, stating that it had discriminated against Uttar Pradesh.

AKHILESH YADAV, SP MP:

“Things that are said during the election campaigns, the proposals in their manifestos, and when the time to comes to implement the same in the Budget, you will find some sort of discrimination everywhere. For such a large state like Uttar Pradesh which voted the BJP to power for a third time, is also facing discrimination. You wish to stop the floods in Bihar. But without managing the floods in UP and Nepal first, how can you do it in Bihar. That’s why Uttar Pradesh is facing discrimination. Initially, the youth were deterred from their jobs for 10 years due to reasons like privatisation and bad policies. Now your are giving incentives. What is the point?”

Many other opposition leaders too called the budget discriminatory.

SAGARIKA GHOSE, TMC MP:

“This is not cooperative and competitive federalism. This is discriminatory federalism. Only two states, Andhra Pradesh and Odisha (Bihar) which are part of the coalition government have been given everything, the packages, and the infrastructure bonanza.”

MAHUA MAJHI, JMM MP:

“It’s looks like a budget of discrimination and ‘satta bachao’. It is a way to please the top leaders of Bihar and Andhra Pradesh who had helped to form the government. I am not saying that they shouldn’t have been given any less than this but what mistake did other states make? This is a democracy, whatever the Prime minister and the country owns is for every party and every state.”

PRIYANKA CHATURVEDI, MP, SHIV SENA (UBT)

“The way central government has started a politics of revenge, politics of discrimination, an attempt to make one state fight with another through the medium of budget, it is unfortunate. The Union Budget was not presented, it was Pradhan Mantri Sarkar Bachao Yojana where PM Modi has also shown his anti-Maharashtra ideology and how Maharashtra has been facing discrimination in the last 10 years. You formed a coalition with the Maharashtra government but did not give a single penny to them.”

The decision to protest against the union budget was taken at a meeting of floor leaders of INDIA bloc parties on Tuesday evening immediately after union finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman presented the first budget of the new NDA government.