Former Finance Minister and senior Congress leader, P Chidambaram on Sunday took a swipe at the BJP-led government at the Centre over the Union Budget 2026-27, asserting that this a Budget without “economic strategy and without economic statesmanship”.
Addressing a press conference at the old party office here, the Congress leader said, “Every pre-budget commentator and writer, and every student of economics, must be astonished by what he or she heard in the Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman’s speech to Parliament today. I accept that a Budget is more than a statement of annual revenues and expenditure. In current circumstances, the Budget speech must lay out a narrative that addresses the major challenges outlined in the Economic Survey released a few days ago.”
Asserting that he was not sure if the government and the Finance Minister “had read the Economic Survey 2025-26”, he said, “If they had, it appears they have decided to discard it completely, and fall back on their favourite pastime of throwing words, usually acronyms, at the people.”
Citing at least 10 challenges including “precarious” employment situation, especially youth unemployment, Chidambaram said, “None of this was addressed by the Finance Minister’s speech.”
He claimed that even by an accountant’s standards, it was a poor account of the management of the finances in 2025-26. “Revenue receipts were short by Rs 78,086 crore, total expenditure was short by Rs 1,00,503 crore. Revenue expenditure was short by Rs 75,168 crore and capital expenditure was cut by Rs 1,44,376 crore (Centre Rs 25,335 crore and States Rs 1,19,041 crore). Not a word was said to explain this miserable performance. Actually, the Centre’s capital expenditure has fallen from 3.2 per cent of GDP in 2024-25 to 3.1 per cent in 2025-26,” the senior Congress leader said.
He alleged funds have been cut in crucial sectors and programmes in the Union Budget. Expenditure on the much-vaunted Jal Jeevan Mission was ‘cruelly’ cut from Rs 67,000 crore to a paltry Rs 17,000 crore, the senior Congress leader alleged.
Chidambaram further said, “The most serious criticism of the Budget speech is that the Finance Minister is not tired of adding to the number of schemes, programmes, missions, institutes, initiatives, funds, committees, hubs, etc. I counted at least 24. I leave it to your imagination how many of these will be forgotten and vanish by next year.”
Referring to the Part B of the speech, the senior Congress leader said, “Months after the passing of the Income Tax Act, 2026, which will come into force on 1 April, 2026, the Finance Minister has tinkered with some rates. While the impact of the numerous minor changes has to be examined carefully, it must be remembered that the overwhelming majority of the people have no concern with income tax or income tax rates.”
“As far as indirect taxes are concerned, the average person will be concerned with only paragraphs 159, 160 and 161 of the speech. I welcome these minor concessions,” he said.
The senior Congress leader added, “Our verdict is that this is a budget without economic strategy, without economic statesmanship.”
