SRINAGAR — An MLA from Handwara and JKPC President Sajad Lone on Friday sharply criticised the Jammu and Kashmir budget, calling it an expected disappointment.
“The budget speech was, as expected, a disappointment — the same old style of parroting of Centrally Sponsored Schemes with Hindi nomenclature,” Lone remarked.
He said the budget reflected a significant gap between political rhetoric and economic figures, emphasizing that the presented data contradicted the opposition’s previous stance.
“It glorified and endorsed the BJP’s ‘Naya Kashmir’ discourse. And statistics, which have been berated by the NC over the past decade have become the gospel truth. Suddenly, every government statistic from the past five years is being treated as gospel truth, and the incumbent government seems eager to jump into the frame and take credit for the same statistics that, until the other day, they told us were either fudged or fiction,” he said.
Lone asserted that he had expected a politically viable and economically vibrant budget rather than a routine statement of outlay and expenditure. “Even the promised 200 units of electricity are only for AAY beneficiaries and are linked to the Centrally Sponsored Rooftop Scheme, which has approximately a 65 per cent central share with a cap of 3 kW. Too many strings attached,” he stated.
Linking social welfare payments to DA, Lone argued, “We have to pray for miraculous zero inflation for a real increase.”
He further lamented that the budget lacked anything tangible to “positively impact the lives of the common man.”
Lone also took issue with fuel price hikes, stating, “Petrol and diesel prices are set to increase by Rw 1/Lt and Rs 2/Lt, respectively, due to a reduction in rebates on petrol and diesel.”
He criticized the budget for neglecting key employment sectors, emphasizing that it offered nothing for job creation, daily wagers, contractual employees, or minimum wages.
Additionally, he dismissed the shifting of the police budget as a supposed “achievement,” asserting that “the soul of statehood, which we believe was stolen from us, was relegated to yet another statistic.”
Moreover, he likened the LG’s address to a political downplaying of aspirations and called the budget “a statistical relegation of aspirations.”
“The PM, the HM, and the Union Finance Minister were praised more than once,” Lone concluded, “The saga of love letters continues. This love letter to BJP — Part II. –IANS
