Budget Session begins today: Stakes high for BJP, Opposition sharpens knives

As the Opposition gears up to question the Narendra Modi government over “economic slowdown” plus global challenges post-Donald Trump, in the Budget Session that begins Friday, within the BJP too there is a sense that it is the most critical Budget of the Prime Minister’s three terms.

It’s the first full Budget by the Modi government without a majority, having been reduced to 240 seats in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections. And the government begins from a position of disadvantage following the Kumbh Mela stampede tragedy.

A BJP leader said: “The Budget presented in July last year was prepared in a hurry… In 2014, expectations were low and in 2019, the hope of change still existed. This one comes against the backdrop of a volatile market, devaluation of the rupee and an international scenario with uncertainties.”

The government will seek to check the negative outlook, a senior BJP leader said. “It needs to turn around the perception of a slowing economy, for Modi to regain the image of a leader who delivers growth.”

As the leader added, “The perception of India’s growth is also the reason for Modi’s global stature… This is being tested against the backdrop of the performance of the economy and the devaluation of the rupee.”

The preceding Budget Session of Parliament had ended on a bitter note, with two BJP MPs claiming injuries caused in a scuffle outside Parliament. The Congress, which will reach out to other Opposition leaders for joint meetings, said there were several issues the party wanted to raise, while adding that the onus was as much on BJP MPs to maintain order.

Congress whip Manickam Tagore said: “Certainly, the stampede at Kumbh Mela will be raised as a failure of the BJP government (in Uttar Pradesh). Leader of the Opposition Rahul Gandhi will also take on the government over issues of favouritism towards Gautam Adani and the BJP’s disregard for B R Ambedkar.”

The latter two are issues that the Congress has been targeting the Modi government on consistently – though there is disagreement within Opposition ranks over Gandhi’s focus on Adani.

The issues on which the Opposition is expected to find common cause include indications of an economic slowdown, as well as the widespread changes expected, from immigration to visas and tariffs, with Trump becoming the US President.

The CPI(M) said it will raise the challenge post the breakthrough in artificial intelligence by a Chinese firm, with its DeepSeek programme.

John Brittas, CPI(M) Rajya Sabha MP, said: “The epistemological break that has been achieved by China will put pressure on the Indian government to come up with similar measures in the technology sector and there will be clamour for investment in this sector.”

Accusing the government of failing to prove “claims regarding remarkable achievements in the manufacturing sector”, the CPI(M) leader said: “The nation awaits measures that can revive the economy, but our experience with this government has been grossly disappointing. The sliding rupee is the manifestation of this failure.”

Senior Congress MP Manish Tewari said: “In 2019, the government cut corporate income tax in order to incentivise private investment. That strategy did not work, clearly. Private investment and private consumption expenditure – the two key drivers of any economy – have been at their lowest point in the past five years.”

He added: “Unless the Budget is able to unleash the animal spirit of the economy and spur private consumption expenditure by putting money into the hands of the people, this economy will continue to falter.”

Tewari also argued that the government has to be “transparent” to earn the trust of foreign investors. “Between 2004-14 (the UPA years), the economy grew at 8%. Since 2014, GDP figures are absolutely opaque because the goalposts of measuring indices have been moved. So no one trusts the Indian economy. It’s a significant concern for international investors,” he said.

Congress leader Tagore said the Opposition will also be looking at the government’s measures regarding social security programmes. “The percentage of money for social security programmes has been reduced. Since 2019, the Budget allocation for health, education and the employment generation schemes has been coming down,” Tagore said.

Emerging from an all-party meeting convened by the government Thursday, ahead of the Session, Congress leader Pramod Tiwari said the Opposition INDIA Bloc will raise “all the issues together”, listing rising unemployment and the “plight” of farmers. He went on to slam “the politicisation of Kumbh”, and the alleged preferential treatment for VIPs.

One of the biggest expectations from the Budget, on both sides of the divide, is that it will have incentives for industries and agriculture – with BJP leaders acknowledging that the party’s massive victories in the Haryana and Maharashtra Assembly elections had raised hopes regarding that. “If we don’t give these two areas fresh energy, the Opposition will use it against the BJP. We have important elections coming up this year (Bihar) and next year too (Assam, West Bengal, Tamil Nadu, Puducherry and Kerala),” a party MP said.

In most of these states, the BJP faces tough challenges.

greeing that all eyes will be on what the Budget holds for industries, BJP chief whip Sanjay Jaiswal said: “India can rise only if it’s an industrialised nation. So we should do more for micro and medium industries, especially those which are labour-intensive. We hope the Budget will include this.”

Shiv Sena MP Shrikant Shinde, who says the Modi government has done much to bring economic stability after “policy paralysis under the UPA”, agreed. “We urge the Union government to provide substantial financial backing for infrastructure, employment generation, and emerging technologies like Artificial Intelligence.”

The Session will begin with President Droupadi Murmu addressing both Houses of Parliament on Friday, with the Budget to be presented the next day. The first part of the Budget Session will conclude on February 13.