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Budget 2024: Amidst the political heat of Lok Sabha elections, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman has presented the final and interim budget of the second term of the Modi government. Modi government has not made any changes in direct and indirect taxes in the budget. The government presented the budget like a report card of its 10-year tenure. Expressing hope of returning to power in the country for the third consecutive time, Nirmala Sitharaman said that in the full budget in July, our government will present a detailed roadmap of the target of developed India. At the same time, PM Modi said that this is the budget for building the future of the country. This is a dedicated budget for developed India.
Due to the Lok Sabha elections to be held in the country after two months, it was expected that the Modi government would try to solve the political equation by making attractive promises through the budget, but nothing like this was done by the Finance Minister. At exactly 11 o’clock, Sitharaman started reading the budget speech and then we did not realize when her speech ended. While presenting the final budget of the second term of Modi government, Sitharaman avoided making any major announcement.
Finance Minister Nirmala avoided making populist promises. Also, Modi government neither made any major announcements nor took any major policy decisions. Due to it being an election year, the expectations people had from the Modi government remained unfulfilled. The Finance Minister also claimed to present the full budget in July after winning the elections in 2024. This confidence comes only when there is full confidence in winning the elections and forming the government again. In such a situation, the question arises that what is the political signal behind the way Modi government has presented the interim budget with full confidence?
Confidence of Modi government?
The Modi government is completely full of confidence, due to which it has refrained from making any attractive promises in the interim budget. The entire emphasis of the government was on counting the achievements of the ten years of the government. Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman has definitely laid out her vision for the projects in railways and other sectors. Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman surprised while presenting her sixth budget, as it was her shortest budget speech till date. Sitharaman focused on sustainable growth in the interim budget. She avoided announcing any major public welfare scheme.
Due to the Lok Sabha elections, people were expecting that Sitharaman would make some big splash in the interim budget, but she did not do so. Modi government has tried to give a big political message through the interim budget. To win the Lok Sabha elections, she will not resort to election gimmicks through the budget to woo the people. In this way, an attempt has also been made to send a message that the Modi government will not use the platform of the interim budget to announce public welfare and populist schemes, but will present its full budget in July after returning to power for the third consecutive time. Will keep a roadmap. At that time the government will present its vision.
Behind the confidence of Modi government?
In the current political situation of the country, the Modi government has full hopes of returning to power, due to which the government is full of confidence. The opposition camp does not have any leader of the political stature of PM Modi. Ram temple is being built in Ayodhya, due to which there is a different kind of atmosphere across the country. It is believed that the political impact of Ram Temple will also be visible in the Lok Sabha elections to be held in April, which BJP is expected to benefit from. These days, the issue of the grand Ram temple being built in Ayodhya is in focus in every village, street and city of the country. BJP is setting the election agenda of 2024 around Ram Temple and is busy laying the foundation of Hindutva and nationalism.
Ram temple is being built in a grand manner in Ayodhya, which has been inaugurated by PM Modi. Now the Hindu side has got a big success in the Gyanvapi case. The district court has given permission for puja in the basement of Vyas Ji in Gyanvapi complex after 31 years, after which the administration started the puja late in the night. The survey of Gyanvapi has also been completed and the matter is in the court. In such a situation, the political impact of Ram Temple and now Kashi’s Gyanvapi will have in the states of North India in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, which BJP is expected to benefit from. The opposition alliance, which is planning to sail through the Lok Sabha elections on the basis of castes, will have to contend with BJP’s Ram Mandir and Gyanvapi.
Modi government has its own social engineering, through which it has created a strong political equation. Prime Minister Narendra Modi has repeatedly said that for him there are only four castes, which are poor, youth, women and farmers. While presenting the budget, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman kept her focus on these four ‘castes’ only. Sitharaman made many announcements for villages, farmers and women. He said that the Central Government is paying maximum attention to the poor, women, youth and farmers. The government is trying its best to make their life better. The welfare of the poor is the welfare of the country and we are doing a lot of work for the poor. Women and young voters have emerged as a special supporter group of Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Women and young voters have played an important role in BJP’s victory in the 2014 and 2019 Lok Sabha elections.
Opposition scattered, Nitish left
The reason behind the confidence of the Modi government is that the opposition is completely scattered. To compete with BJP in the 2024 elections, the opposition parties united and formed the India Alliance, which included 28 parties. Chhatrapas like BSP chief Mayawati, BRS president KCR, BJD president Naveen Patnaik, YSR chief Jaganmohan Reddy, Asaduddin Owaisi and Sukhvir Badal were not already with the India alliance, but now with Mamata Banerjee sidelined, Nitish Kumar has also. The relationship has been broken. Nitish Kumar was the architect of the opposition alliance, who is now with the BJP-led NDA alliance. This is a big political setback for the opposition alliance which is increasing the confidence of BJP. The scattered opposition cannot compete with the BJP at present?
Nothing decided in India alliance?
Nothing has been decided yet in the opposition INDIA alliance formed to compete with BJP. Neither has seat sharing been done between the alliance partners nor has the agenda been fixed. Not only this, the outline for the joint rally of the opposition alliance has not been made yet. There is no consensus on who will be the face of the opposition alliance and under whose leadership it will contest the elections. The parties involved in the alliance are speaking in different voices. If SP is on a different path, Kejriwal’s language seems to have changed. In this way, only confusion is visible in the alliance, no solution is visible. At the same time, BJP has fully entered the election mode and will soon announce the names of its candidates on about 150 seats. PM Modi has started creating a political atmosphere by holding rallies in different parts of the country.
Old allies of BJP are returning
Old allies of BJP are returning again. Nitish Kumar has again become a part of NDA from the opposition camp. Talks are also going on with Chandrababu Naidu’s TDP in Andhra Pradesh. It is believed that he may also return to NDA. Similarly, there is discussion about Akali Dal in Punjab also. From UP to Karnataka and Bihar, the NDA clan is already quite big. With the arrival of Nitish Kumar, BJP is standing in Bihar with the confidence that it will be successful in winning all 40 seats. BJP has set the target of winning all 80 seats in UP. In this way, BJP has entered the electoral fray in 2024 with the slogan of crossing 400, for which PM Modi is creating a political atmosphere by holding rallies from North to South.
