Modi 2.0 Budget: Assam expresses mixed reactions with likes and dislikes

Guwahati: The Modi 2.0 budget presented in the Lok Sabha on Friday has stirred mixed reactions from different political parties in Assam and the rest of the northeast. While the BJP leaders and members are seen supporting and welcoming the budget presented by Nirmala Sitharaman widely, the opposition leaders of Congress and other parties are finding flaws in it.

Some of the factors that did not fulfill the aspirations of the common people of Assam but were highly expected to be mentioned in the budget include the tea industry of Assam and the two mighty rivers of Assam- Brahmaputra and Barak. As the Assam tea industry is the biggest in the nation that earns it crores of revenues every year, neglecting this important sector of the country was unexpected and disappointing.

Assam Pradesh Congress Committee (APCC) president Ripun Bora, criticizing the budget, says that the budget contained nothing about cleaning and taking care of the two significant rivers of the state- Brahmaputra and Barak. At a time when the centre is so vocal about cleaning the Ganga River, why isn’t there specific effort to clean and beautify the two big rivers of the state!

The AICC president further said, "The Finance Minister has mentioned about $ 5 trillion economy by 2015, but they have failed to give a roadmap for this. They spoke about clean rivers and talked about the Ganga only. Why are the Brahmaputra and Barak rivers not included? They spoke of youth, but there is no scheme on how to create jobs for the youth."

The Commerce for North East India (FINER) hailed the Budget for the provisions it made for the agriculture and MSME sector. FINER member R.S. Joshi praised the budget as a good budget. He added that they also expected some announcements for the tea industry of Assam, which is suffering due to several reasons.

Asom Gana Parishad (AGP) Atul Bora termed it as a people-oriented budget which is aiming at strengthening the rural economy of the state.

Also read: Budget Pro-People, Pro-Poor: CM Sarbananda Sonowal