FM Hits Out At Congress, Says No ‘Surrender’ On US Deal
Accuses Cong. of harming farmers’ interests by joining WTO
New Delhi:Finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Wednesday rebutted allegations made by Leader of Opposition Rahul Gandhi on the Indo-US interim trade agreement and accused the Congress-led UPA government of compromising national interests during its tenure.
Replying to the debate on the Union Budget in the Lok Sabha, she rejected the charge that India had “surrendered” to the United States and alleged that the previous UPA government had yielded to the World Trade Organisation at the cost of farmers and the poor. “Koi mai ka laal paida nahi hua jo humare desh ko bech de ya kharid le (no one has the audacity to sell or buy out India),” she said.
The minister also criticised the law and order situation in West Bengal, alleging that violence prevailed in the state. She responded to Samajwadi Party leader Akhilesh Yadav’s claim that Uttar Pradesh had been ignored in the Budget, citing infrastructure initiatives undertaken by the Centre.
Addressing concerns raised on artificial intelligence and data, she said the government was incentivising the establishment of cloud and data centres in India to ensure data localisation and generate employment. “The India AI Mission has a dedicated allocation of Rs 1,000 crore for 2026-27,” she said.
Outlining fiscal projections, Sitharaman said total expenditure for the next financial year was pegged at Rs 53.47 lakh crore, an increase of 7.7 per cent over the current fiscal. The revised estimate for the current year stands at Rs 49.64 lakh crore, compared with the Budget estimate of Rs 50.65 lakh crore. The expenditure for 2024-25 was Rs 46.52 lakh crore.
She said capital expenditure allocation for the next fiscal was Rs 12.2 lakh crore, or 4.4 per cent of GDP, and that effective capital expenditure, including support to states and Union Territories, would be Rs 17.1 lakh crore.
The fiscal deficit was projected at 4.3 per cent of GDP, or Rs 16.95 lakh crore, for FY27. She added that reducing the debt-to-GDP ratio remained part of the government’s Fiscal Responsibility and Budget Management framework.
