Chandigarh, 1 February  Responding to the Central Government’s Interim Union Budget 2024-25, senior leader of Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) and Finance Minister of Punjab Government, Harpal Singh Cheema said that there is nothing for Punjab in the budget.

Punjab is not going to get any benefits from it. Injustice to Punjab is pretty evident in the budget.

In a statement issued from the party headquarters Chandigarh on Thursday, Finance Minister Cheema said that the Modi government at the Center had only cheated Punjab during the 10 years and only took decisions that disappointed and harmed Punjabis.

The Union Budget of the last ten years of the BJP government shows that the BJP always discriminated against Punjab and tried to deprive Punjabis of any economic benefits.

Unreleased Funds

He said that funds worth thousands of crores of rupees, which were to be given to Punjab under various national schemes, are outstanding with the Centre. For this, we had written several letters to the Finance Minister and requested the release of funds, but till now the Central Government has not given even a single rupee of that outstanding money to Punjab.

Agricultural State Concerns

He said that India and especially Punjab is an agricultural state. Farmers of the country are continuously demanding guarantee of MSP on all crops from the Central Government. For this, farmers from across the country protested on the Delhi border for more than a year. But no special provisions have been made for farmers in this budget either.

Youth Disappointment

This budget has also disappointed the youth of the country. BJP came to power by promising to provide 2 crore jobs every year, but in the name of employment it gave ‘jumle’ and Agniveer scheme to the youth. Actually the BJP government is a jumla government. BJP is a party that lies and misleads people. It just plays the game of numbers in the name of employment and economy, and fools people by presenting false figures.

Poverty and Economic Realities

He said that the government is presenting a false picture of the poor. Even today 80 crore people of the country are living below the poverty line, that is why there was a need for the government to provide food grains to 80 crore people. It is clear from these figures that poverty in the country has not decreased, but increased. The truth of the economy of the Modi government is that the number of poor in the country is increasing day by day and the wealth of the capitalists close to him is continuously increasing. BJP only pretends to be there for the poor, in reality it is only a government of the rich and capitalists.