'Lacklustre', 'visionless', 'blind' to India’s 'real crises' — How Opposition sees Budget 2026-27

Also read: What does each state get from Budget 2026-27?

The tone of the Congress reaction to the Budget was set even before it was presented by Sitharaman. Party leader Priyanka Gandhi, while entering the Parliament ahead of the Budget discussions, told the gathered media that she had no expectations from the exercise.

Following the presentation of the Budget, the Congress’s social media and digital platforms chairperson, Supriya Shrinate, cited “expenditure cuts” by the government — CapEx and otherwise — in the Budget. She also accused the government of cutting funds for sectors including health, education, agriculture, social welfare and in scholarships for the backward communities.

‘No course correction’

Meanwhile, in a post on social media platform X, Rahul wrote, “Youth without jobs. Falling manufacturing. Investors pulling out capital. Household savings plummeting. Farmers in distress. Looming global shocks — all ignored. A Budget that refuses course correction, blind to India’s real crises. (sic)”

The criticism was repeated by Congress’s leader of opposition in Rajya Sabha, Mallikarjun Kharge, who accused the government of having run out of ideas. “…#Budget2026 does not provide a single solution to India’s many economic, social, and political challenges… Net result: NO policy vision, NO political will (sic),” Kharge posted on X.

Drawing attention to the condition of farmers and backward and minority communities in the country, Kharge added: “Our Annadata Farmers still await meaningful welfare support or an income security plan. Inequality has surpassed the levels seen under the British Raj, but the Budget does not even mention it or provide any support to SC, ST, OBC, EWS [Scheduled Caste, Scheduled Tribes, Other Backward Classes and Economically Weaker Sections], and Minority communities (sic)”.

Kharge, also the Congress president, stated that while the 16th Finance Commission’s recommendations to the Centre would have to be studied in detail, “they do not appear to provide any relief to state governments which are under severe financial stress”. He added: “Federalism has become a casualty… This Budget offers no solutions, NOT even slogans to hide the absence of policy!”

Also read: Budget leaves TN feeling snubbed ahead of polls; 'no projects', says Kanimozhi

The tirade was kept up by Jairam Ramesh, senior Congress leader and the party’s in-charge of communications, who expressed his disappointment with the “totally lacklustre” budget in a social media post.

“Budget 2026/27 falls woefully short of the hype that was generated about it…The speech was also non-transparent since it gave no idea whatsoever of budgetary allocations for key programmes and schemes (sic),” Ramesh wrote on X.

Senior Congress leader and former finance minister P Chidambaram too picked holes in the Budget, accusing the Centre and the Finance Minister of discarding challenges highlighted in the recently released Economic Survey, citing issues like the penal tariffs imposed by the US creating stress for manufacturers and protracted trade conflicts weighing on investment, among others.

"Even by an accountant’s standards, it was a poor account of the management of the finances in 2025-26. Revenue receipts were short by Rs 78,086 crore, total expenditure was short by Rs 1,00,503 crore. Revenue expenditure was short by Rs 75,168 crore and capital expenditure was cut by Rs 1,44,376 crore (Centre Rs 25,335 crore and States Rs 1,19,041 crore)," said Chidambaram.

The former finance minister added: "The most serious criticism of the Budget speech is that the Finance Minister is not tired of adding to the number of schemes, programmes, missions, institutes, initiatives, funds, committees, hubs, etc... I leave it to your imagination how many of these will be forgotten and vanish by next year... Months after the passing of the Income Tax Act, 2026, which will come into force on 1 April, 2026, the Finance Minister has tinkered with some rates... Our verdict is that the Budget speech and the Budget fail the test of economic strategy and economic statesmanship."

'No Mention of West Bengal'

Criticism of the Budget was also voiced by regional party leaders, many of whom alleged their state had been ignored in the Budget. One such leader was Abhishek Banerjee, Trinamool Congress (TMC) MP and the party’s national general secretary and parliamentary party leader in the Lok Sabha.

“The Finance Minister spoke for about one hour and 25 minutes, or 85 minutes, which translates to 5,100 seconds. In all this time, West Bengal was not mentioned even once,” said Banerjee, while interacting with reporters outside the Parliament following the tabling of the Budget.

Alleging that the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) government at the Centre was viewing West Bengal through the lens of alleged cross-border infiltration from Bangladesh, the Trinamool Congress MP added: “If somebody sees Bengal through the lens of Bangladesh, it is the Central government, the ministers sitting here, and the one who presented Budget. If somebody calls us Bangladeshis, it is the one who presented the Budget here or who has written the Budget; it is the [central] government.”

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The MP further claimed that West Bengal had been sidelined since the BJP knew that they were not likely to win the assembly elections scheduled to be held in the state this year.

“After 2021 [when the Trinamool Congress returned to power in West Bengal in the last assembly election], the way the BJP government [at the Centre] has committed atrocities on Bengalis, we didn’t have any expectations [from the Budget]. They know even if they spend money, they will lose,” Banerjee alleged.

Touching upon other aspects of the Budget, he also expressed his disappointment over the non-inclusion of issues relating to farmers and youth.

“There is nothing concrete for farmers and the youth. This government talks about AI [artificial intelligence], Skill India and technological advancement. How will youth get employment or how will opportunities for them be generated, if there is no concrete mention of it [in the Budget],” the Trinamool MP questioned.

Banerjee added: “This Budget is a faceless budget, baseless and visionless budget. To me, the Budget is just the government’s self-appraisal report written by its own PR [public relations] department. This Budget doesn’t have any complete solution to offer,” he said.

'Disappointing, failure to address income inequality'

Adding to the ranks of Opposition MPs who came out in criticism against Sunday’s Budget, Shiv Sena (UBT) MP Priyanka Chaturvedi too termed it “disappointing”.

“Had hopes of a reformatory budget as promised by Hon. PM, however, the budget has been disappointing. It was to lay down India’s vision considering the global turbulence, but clearly missed the bus (sic),” Chaturvedi wrote on X.

Taking at potshot at FM Sitharaman, she said, “Ma’m as predicted was wearing a handloom saree from Tamil Nadu (keeping election going state in mind) but was silent on the huge US tariff [that has] hit Tirupur [Tamil Nadu district known for its textile and knitwear industry], as well as other areas, where losses have accrued as India continues to be the highest tariffed nation [by the US] in the world (sic).”

The polit bureau of the Communist Party of India (Marxist) too termed the Budget "anti-people" and "anti-Federal" in a statement issued on Sunday.

Accusing the Narendra Modi government of "promoting the narrow interests of a few big business houses and the rich", the party added: "The Finance Minister in her budget speech mentioned that the Modi government’s tenure has been marked by ‘stability, fiscal discipline, sustained growth, and moderate inflation’. What she failed to mention was that the only stability has been in the distress of the working people marked by rampant unemployment and limited earnings from work, while ‘sustained growth’ has marked only the incomes and wealth of the rich and the corporate sectorThe Finance Minister in her budget speech mentioned that the Modi government’s tenure has been marked by ‘stability, fiscal discipline, sustained growth, and moderate inflation’. What she failed to mention was that the only stability has been in the distress of the working people marked by rampant unemployment and limited earnings from work, while ‘sustained growth’ has marked only the incomes and wealth of the rich and the corporate sector."

Also read: Budget 2026 showers Uttar Pradesh with a bagful of goodies

Senior Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) leader and MP Manoj Jha, on the other hand, claimed the Budget had failed to address issues such as “income inequality” and “alarming unemployment”.

“Today's budget has once again failed to address the two most serious issues affecting the country's vast population — rapidly rising 'income inequality' and 'alarming unemployment'. Instead of grappling with these structural crises, the budget has resorted to superficial measures and heavy rhetoric. This embellishment of words may create headlines for a day or two, but it cannot bring any change in the economic realities/concerns of ordinary people,” claimed Jha, ending the post with a “Jai Hind”.