BJP Wooing Tax-Paying Middle Class & Bihar Electorate: Chidambaram; Check Reactions To Union Budget 2025

New Delhi/Bhubaneswar: Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman proposed a cut in income tax rates to boost middle-class spending power and an increase in private investment to strengthen growth in a step towards realising the vision of Vikshit Bharat by 2047.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi lauded the Union Budget 2025, calling it a “Janata Janardan Ka Budget” (people’s budget) and emphasising its people-centric approach that will propel India’s growth trajectory. “This is the budget of aspirations of 140 crore Indians. This is a budget that fulfils the dreams of every Indian. We have opened many sectors for the youth. The common citizen is going to drive the mission of Viksit Bharat”, PM Modi said.

He further highlighted that the Budget would accelerate investment, consumption, and growth. “This budget is a force multiplier. This budget will increase savings, investment, consumption and growth rapidly,” he added.

Applauding the tax cuts in the Union Budget 2025, Union home minister Amit Shah said the middle class is always in PM Modi’s heart.

Chief Minister Mohan Majhi hailed the Union Budget-2025 as ‘pro-people’ and a step towards achieving the ‘Viksit Bharat’ goals. He added that the “zero income tax” up to Rs 12 lakh per annum, as proposed in the Union Budget 2025-26, is a visionary step and will empower citizens and strengthen the economy.

BJP MP Aparajita Sarangi said, “This is a holistic and forward-looking budget… Everybody is happy about the budget… The budget has been designed keeping in view- the target of making India a ‘Viksit Bharat’ by 2047… I don’t think the critics will find any problem with this budget… Lots of things have been done for the middle class, like the ease of doing business…”

Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Eknath Shinde said that this budget will lead to Laxmi (prosperity, wealth and good fortune) in every household. “The tax relief up to Rs 12 lakh is a huge thing. It will lead to savings, encourage people to invest and will therefore boost our economy. This budget is the first step towards PM Narendra Modi’s dream of making India an economic superpower… The capacity of MSMEs to take loans has been increased. Due to this, small industries will grow through MSMEs, which will directly benefit people by boosting employment and industry in the country…,” he added.

Bihar CM Nitish Kumar said: “This budget of the central government is progressive and future-oriented. Through this budget, the Central Government has taken several steps to further increase the pace of development of the country. The announcements made for Bihar in the budget will give further impetus to the development of Bihar. Makhana farmers will benefit from the establishment of Makhana Board in the state to improve the production, processing, value addition and marketing of Makhana. Providing the facility of Greenfield airports in Bihar to meet the future needs of the state will increase the number of international flights and will greatly benefit the people here and will also accelerate the economic development of the state…”

HOW THE OPPOSITION REACTED TO UNION BUDGET 2025

Briefing a press, Former Finance Minister P Chidambaram said: “These announcements will be welcomed by the 3.2 crore tax paying middle class and the 7.65 crore voters of Bihar. For the rest of India, the Finance Minister had no more than soothing words, punctuated by the applause of BJP members led by the Prime Minister.”

The Rajya Sabha member said that the Budget is full of new schemes, programmes and many of these are ‘beyond capacity’ of this government.

Elaborating on the takeaways of the Budget 2025, he further stated that revised revenue receipts are lower by Rs 41,240 crore and revised net tax receipts lower by Rs 26,439 crore. “On the expenditure side, total expenditure has been cut by Rs 1,04,025 crore and capital expenditure has been cut by Rs 92,682 crore. Of this cut, the sectors that have suffered and the amounts cut are – Health (₹1,255) crore, Education (₹11,584 crore), Social Welfare (₹10,019 crore), Agriculture (₹10,992 crore), Rural Development (₹75,133 crore) and Urban Development (₹18,907 crore) and Development of NE (₹1,894 crore),” he said.

Later speaking to ANI, the former FM said: “…There is no relief for people, they would have gotten relief if the GST would have been cut, price of petrol and diesel would have been reduced, MGNREGA wages would have been increased, statutory minimum wages had been increased… I am very happy for the people of Bihar, but what about the other people?… I can’t see any relief to the farmers of India… On Railways, they spent Rs 2,12,786 crores in 2024-25, and for this year, they have increased it by Rs 766 crores, whereas, at 4% inflation, it should have been increased by Rs 10,000 crores… We will try to expose the budget, and speak about it…”

A “band aid for bullet wounds” is how Leader of Opposition Rahul Gandhi described the Union Budget. he further said that the government was suffering from a “bankruptcy of ideas”.

Taking a swipe at schemes awarded to Bihar, Congress MP Manish Tewari said, “I fail to understand that was this a budget of govt of India or was this a budget of govt of Bihar? Have you heard the name of another state than Bihar in the entire budgetary speech of the union finance minister?…”

Congress leader Jairam Ramesh also noted sarcastically that Bihar got a “bonanza” “natural since (an Assembly) election is due there later in the year” but Andhra Pradesh was “cruelly ignored” in the Union Budget 2025.

He slammed the proposal to amend the Civil Liability for Nuclear Damage Act, 2010. “To appease Mr. Trump, the FM announces that the Act will be amended,” the Congress leader posted on X (formerly Twitter).

He also questioned the Union government’s silence on the demands of farmers, including MSP as a legal guarantee and farm loan waiver. “The FM starts with agriculture but is completely silent on the demands of farmers and the recommendations of the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Agriculture — MSP as a legal guarantee, farm loan waiver, inflation indexation of PM Kisan payouts and reforms to PM Fasal Bima Yojana.”

Jairam added that Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman spoke of four engines of development – Agriculture, MSMEs, Investment, and Exports- but the Budget was “completely derailed”.

Congress MP Shashi Tharoor highlighted the irony of tax exemptions without addressing unemployment. “We didn’t even hear the words “unemployment” or “inflation” from the Finance Minister today. It was a mercifully short speech, but she didn’t mention either of those words, which is not so merciful. The fact is, if you have a job and earn Rs 12 lakh or less, there’s every reason to be happy. However, if you don’t have a job, it’s unclear from this Budget where the job opportunities will come from. If you’re living in Bihar and are from an ally party, you’ll likely receive sops to aid your election efforts. Ironically, this is the same party that advocates for ‘0ne Nation, One Election’,” he said.

Telangana Congress president B Mahesh Kumar Goud accused the Centre of doing “grave injustice” to the state. He said that the central government has not addressed pending issues, including the establishment of a steel plant, IIM, and other assurances made to Telangana during the bifurcation of undivided Andhra Pradesh, despite several representations.

Trinamool Congress leader Abhishek Banerjee claimed that the Union Budget 2025-26 has “nothing” for West Bengal. “There has been nothing for Bengal in the Union Budget. As in the past during the BJP’s reign, there has not been enough allocation for the state in this budget. Our (TMC) MPs have been vocal and have sought a rise in the allocation of funds for central projects. We have demanded new projects for Bengal but the state remains deprived,” he said.

TMC MP Kirti Azad said, “(Its) useless. There’s nothing (in the budget)… There are so many taxes that it seems that these taxes eat up 5 months of your yearly income… If any common man has benefited (from the budget) then please tell.”

Bahujan Samaj Party President Mayawati strongly criticised the Union Budget 2025, claiming it prioritises political interests over the needs of the people. “Due to the tremendous blow of inflation, poverty, unemployment in the country, along with the lack of necessary basic facilities like roads, water, education, peace and comfort, the lives of people in India with a huge population of about 140 crores are quite troubled, which also needs to be resolved through the Union Budget,” she wrote on X.

Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav said: “For whom has this budget come? Your (Govt) cities and roads do not have the capacity to handle so many people (Mahakumbh devotees)… How is your infrastructure in cities? You were building Smart India and smart cities… What arrangements are you (BJP) providing?…”

Notably, opposition leaders, led by Akhilesh, staged a walkout, demanding a discussion on the deaths in Mahakumbh Mela in Prayagraj. They left the House when the FM started reading her Budget speech, but came back moments later.