‘Outrageous… how can you have a Hindu budget and a Muslim budget’: Chidambaram on PM Modi’s remark

“This is bizarre. Obviously, his (PM Modi’s) speech writers have lost their balance. How can you have a Hindu budget and a Muslim budget and then tomorrow you’ll have a Christian budget or Sikh budget? The Constitution of India has one clear Article – Article 112, which says that a government shall present to Parliament, once a year, a statement of receipts and expenditure which is called the Annual Financial Statement (AFS),” he added.

Modi on Wednesday said, “They (Congress) want to dedicate 15% of the budget for minorities. They want reservation for minorities. As the CM (of Gujarat), I staunchly opposed it. The BJP did not allow it to happen. Even Dr BR Ambedkar was opposed to reservation based on religion.”

“The Congress cannot look beyond minorities as it is their vote bank. They are seeking reservation based on religion for minorities. The party is going to badly lose the elections,” the PM added, while speaking at a rally in North Maharashtra’s Nashik district.