Peasant’s plight moves BJP to share Cong worries

In an apparent volte-face from its stand on cutting down of subsidies, the Congress today said ‘‘it is not the right time’&#1...

In an apparent volte-face from its stand on cutting down of subsidies, the Congress today said ‘‘it is not the right time’’ for the Government to increase the prices of fertilisers and that it ‘‘sends wrong signals.’’ Former Finance minister Manmohan Singh was evasive on whether the party would consider bringing a cut motion to the Finance Bill. ‘‘We will cross the bridge when we will come to it,’’ Singh said.

‘‘At a time when Indian farmers are facing acute distress, the hike in urea, DAP and potash prices reveals the true face of the BJP, especially when seen along with the exemption of long-term capital gains,’’ he said. ‘‘There is nothing in this Budget that will improve the well-being of kisans and khet mazdoors,’’ he added.

He also hit out at the proposal to reduce interest rates in public provident fund and small savings, saying it would hurt the interest of workers and investors: ‘‘People who talk of cutting down on interest rates in PF and small savings should realise that this society is different from the Western society where there are institutional systems of saving and support.”

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Stressing that the Budget does not match up to his yardsticks, he said: ‘‘There has been so much song and dance in the Finance Minister’s Budget speech about projects concerning communications, transport, etc. But none of this matches with the actual figures in the plan.’’

‘‘Where is the money going to come from? Unless he is saying the money would be raised from loans, in which case the debt burden would only increase,’’ Singh said. ‘‘I don’t see any strong point in the Budget.’’

While he supported the introduction of Value Added Tax, Singh said: ‘‘I don’t think that adequate preparations have been done before VAT introduction. So in principle it may look like a good idea, but it will all depend on the implementation.’’ He also questioned the prudence of introducing road cess on diesel at a time when international oil prices are on the upswing apprehending a war.