New Delhi: Former Finance Minister and senior Congress leader P. Chidambaram on Sunday criticized the BJP government at the Centre over the Union Budget 2026-27. He said it was a budget lacking any economic strategy or economic wisdom.
Addressing a press conference at the party office, the senior Congress leader said, “Every commentator, writer, and student of economics will be surprised by what they heard in the Finance Minister’s speech in Parliament today. I believe that the budget is not just a statement of annual revenue and expenditure. In the current circumstances, the budget speech should have a narrative that addresses the major challenges identified in the Economic Survey released a few days ago.”
Stating that he was not sure whether the government and the Finance Minister had read the Economic Survey 2025-26, he said, “If they had, it seems they have decided to ignore it completely and have returned to their favourite pastime of throwing words, especially in short form, at the people.” Citing at least 10 challenges, including the “poor” employment situation, especially unemployment among the youth, Chidambaram said, “None of these were addressed in the Finance Minister’s speech.” He claimed that even by an accountant’s standards, the management of finances in 2025-26 was a poor accounting. The senior Congress leader said, “There was a shortfall of Rs 78,086 crore in revenue receipts, a shortfall of Rs 1,00,503 crore in total expenditure. Revenue expenditure was down by ₹75,168 crore, and capital expenditure was cut by ₹1,44,376 crore (Center ₹25,335 crore and States ₹1,19,041 crore). Not a word was said to explain this poor performance. In fact, the Center’s capital expenditure fell from 3.2 percent of GDP in 2024-25 to 3.1 percent in 2025-26.
He alleged that the Union Budget had cut funding for key sectors and programs. The senior Congress leader alleged that spending on the much-vaunted Jal Jeevan Mission had been “ruthlessly” reduced from ₹67,000 crore to just ₹17,000 crore.
Chidambaram further said, “The most serious criticism of the Budget speech is that the Finance Minister never tires of listing schemes, programs, missions, institutions, initiatives, funds, committees, hubs, etc. I counted at least 24. I leave it to your imagination how many of these will be forgotten and disappear by next year.”
Referring to Part B of the speech, the senior Congress leader said, “Months after the passage of the Income Tax Act, 2026, which will come into effect on April 1, 2026, the Finance Minister has changed some rates. While the impact of many minor changes will need to be carefully examined, it should be remembered that most people have nothing to do with income tax or income tax rates.”
He said, “As far as indirect taxes are concerned, the common man will be concerned only with paragraphs 159, 160, and 161 of the speech. I welcome these small concessions.” The senior Congress leader further said, ‘Our decision is that this is a budget which has no economic strategy, no economic wisdom.’
