New Delhi, India
The Indian National Congress (INC) has slammed the BJP-led government over its latest budget. On Tuesday (July 23), after Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman presented the India Union Budget 2024-25, the opposition party claimed that the Narendra Modi 3.0 government's budget speech was "more focused on posturing than action".
Mass employment, national crisis and the 'non-biological PM'
Congress general secretary in-charge communications Jairam Ramesh said that the Modi government seems to have finally "tacitly admitted" that "mass unemployment is a national crisis" that requires urgent attention.
In a post on X, he said that "After ten years of denial -- where neither the non-biological PM nor his party's Lok Sabha Elections Manifesto would even mention jobs -- the Union Government seems to have finally come around to tacitly admitting that mass unemployment is a national crisis that requires urgent attention."
"It's far too late, and as it turns out, far too little - the Budget speech is more focused on posturing than action," Ramesh further added.
Did BJP steal ideas from Congress?
He alleged that the BJP has taken a leaf out of the Congress party's 2024 Lok Sabha polls manifesto by announcing an internship programme but that "in their trademark style" the scheme has been designed to "grab headlines with arbitrary targets rather than a programmatic guarantee to all diploma holders and graduates."
"The Finance Minister has taken a leaf out of the INC's Nyay Patra 2024, with its internship program clearly modelled on the INC's proposed Apprenticeship Program that was called Pehli Naukri Pakki," he said.
In the 2024-25 Union Budget, FM Sitharaman announced that the central government will launch a scheme to provide internship opportunities to 10 million or one crore youth in 500 top companies over five years.
(With inputs from agencies)