Bhubaneswar: Odisha Congress president Bhakta Charan Das Sunday dubbed the Union Budget “directionless, policyless and visionless”, alleging that it has failed to address the concerns of youth, farmers, the poor and the middle and lower-middle classes.
Addressing mediapersons, Das said the Budget had failed to bring smiles to the faces of key sections of society.
“When a Budget is being prepared for 147 crore people, emphasis should have been given to women, youth, farmers and SC/ST communities. The Budget was completely directionless, policyless and visionless,” he said.
“It should have been a policy-centric Budget, but the government failed to do so,” Das said.
The OPCC chief claimed that the Union government failed to spend about Rs 1 lakh-crore of the budgetary provision made for the year 2025-26.
“The debt burden of the country has reached Rs 190 lakh-crore by the end of FY26. During the UPA government, it was Rs 55 lakh crore. In the last 12 years, the BJP-led NDA government has borrowed about Rs 135 lakh crore,” Das alleged, adding that the Centre is planning to borrow another Rs 17.2 lakh-crore.
The Congress leader also alleged that the state had been neglected in the Budget.
“There was no specific public-centric project announced for the state in the Budget,” he stated.
Former OPCC chief Niranjan Patnaik said, “As an Odia, it is disappointing to see the expectations of 4.5 crore people of the state being completely disregarded. In a state where agriculture is the mainstay of the economy and the primary source of livelihood, the lack of significant funding in this Budget is a massive blow.”
Moreover, there was nothing to tackle skyrocketing inflation hitting poor families and no plan for job creation for the youth, he claimed.
Former Union minister Srikant Jena said, “This Budget reflects a corporate-driven approach rather than a people-centric vision. The widening gap between the rich and the poor remains unaddressed, while the poorest and most vulnerable, many of whom have been neglected for years, see little relief.”
The proposed National Waterway linking Talcher and Angul to major ports would speed up mineral evacuation, leaving Odisha to bear pollution and environmental degradation, he said.
Odisha, despite being one of the highest contributors to railway freight revenue, has also been ignored in the seven proposed high-speed rail corridors, Jena alleged.