Budget 2019: P Chidambaram says people will see through Modi govt's desperation

Former Finance Minister P Chidambaram criticised the Budget 2019 presented by FM Piyush Goyal on February 1. Chidambaram said that if he were to give his one line comment on the Budget, he would say that it was "a Vote on Account but an Account for Votes". The former FM said that the interim FM Piyush Goyal "tested our patience by the longest Interim Budget Speech in recent memory" in a press conference. He also criticised the Budget as an election campaign speech and lashed out on the government for violating "time honoured conventions".

Chidambaram also criticised the languages used by FM Goyal in his speech. Adding that he is a strong supporter of the use of Hindi and English as official languages, Chidambaram criticised the use of both the languages together. "Those who knew only Hindi did not understand one-half of the Budget Speech and those knew only English did not understand the other half. Perhaps that was the real intention of the government: leave the people confused at least for a day. The mist that wraps this Budget will lift by tomorrow and the people will see the desperation and recklessness of the government," said Chidambaram. 

Chidambaram said that the big takeaway is that the government further weakened the fiscal stability and has missed the Fiscal Deficit target for the second year in a row. He also called the cow welfare scheme, setting up of a new Department of Fisheries and the pension for unorganised sector workers "last-gasp announcements". "The question that naturally springs to one's mind is 'if these were important and necessary interventions, what was the government doing for five years?'" he added.