New Delhi: With Bengal going to polls in just over two months from now, the state featured prominently in the Union Budget presented by Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Monday.
Sitharaman read out her Budget speech wearing a ‘laal paad’ sari, which is worn by women in Bengal on festive occasions, quoted Nobel laureate Rabindranath Tagore and announced a highway project of Rs 25,000 crore.
Sitharaman proposed the highway infrastructure work including building 8,500-km of highways by March 2022. The total allocation for highway construction in Bengal has been proposed at Rs 25,000 crore. Other poll-bound states of Tamil Nadu, Kerala and Assam also received highway projects, but Bengal featured prominently, India Today.
In early parts of her speech, the minister quoted Tagore, saying, “Faith is the bird that feels the light and sings when the dawn is still dark.”
She added that this moment in history was the dawn of a new era, where India was well-poised to be the land of promise and hope.
Incidentally, the BJP at the Centre has been engaged in a bitter war of words with the ruling Trinamool Congress in Bengal as the state heads to the assembly polls in April-May.
The BJP has accused the Bengal government of failing to bring development in the state. In turn, the Trinamool has blamed the BJP of putting hurdles in the way of development of Bengal.
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