‘Disappointing, parroting of central schemes’: J-K Opposition tears into Omar Abdullah govt’s 1st Budget

Leader of the PDP Legislative Party, Waheed Para, said that the National Conference-led government’s Budget was largely about the allocation of centrally sponsored schemes and that “there is very little here keeping in view the demands and anxieties of the people of J&K”.

Para also said the Budget is in contrast with CM Abdullah’s “promises and policies”. The Pulwama MLA said the people had big expectations as an elected government is at the helm in J&K after a long time. “We understand that their hands are tied, but what they did have in their purview could have been expanded beyond allocation of centrally sponsored schemes,” he said.

Handwara MLA and People’s Conference president Sajad Lone also criticised the Budget and said, “The Budget speech was, as expected, a disappointment — same old style of parroting of centrally sponsored schemes with Hindi nomenclature,” Lone said.

Emphasising that it reflected a “significant gap” between political rhetoric and economic figures, Lone said, “It glorified and endorsed the BJP’s ‘Naya Kashmir’ discourse. And statistics that have been berated by the NC over the past decade have become the gospel truth. Suddenly, every government statistic from the past five years is being treated as gospel truth, and the incumbent government seems eager to jump into the frame and take credit for the same statistics that, until the other day, they told us were either fudged or fiction,” he said.

“Even the promised 200 units of electricity are only for AAY beneficiaries and are linked to the centrally sponsored rooftop scheme, which has approximately a 65% central share with a cap of 3 kW. Too many strings attached,” Lone said.

The BJP said the Budget has “betrayed the public mandate and shattered the hopes of J&K residents”.

J&K BJP president Sat Sharma said the CM’s Budget speech was bursting with a sense of helplessness, dependency and vulnerability rather than an assertiveness to take J&K forward on the “path of development that has been ensued by the Prime Minister Narendra Modi-led (central) government”.

He also said several promises in the National Conference’s manifesto did not make its way into the Budget.

Meanwhile, the National Conference’s alliance partner Congress termed the Budget “pro-people”. State Congress president Tariq Hameed Karra said, “The aspirations of the people have been, by and large, fulfilled.”