26 States Weren’t Named During UPA Era”: Finance Minister Defends Budget
30.07.2024: Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, facing intense scrutiny from the opposition over her union budget, came prepared to address their extensive list of grievances. Chief ministers of opposition-ruled states had raised significant concerns, alleging that the budget disproportionately favored two NDA allies, Bihar and Andhra Pradesh.
For days, the Finance Minister has emphasized that the budget speech only highlights the main points and that all states have received their fair share. Today, she took her defense a step further by presenting historical data from the budget speeches of the UPA era.
“I have reviewed budgets since 2004-2005. In 2004-2005, 17 states were not named in the budget speech. In 2006-2007, 16 states were not named… In 2009, 26 states were not named, including Bihar and UP,” she said. “I want to ask the UPA government — did money not go to those states?” she added while responding to the debate over the budget.
She continued, “I humbly state that all members know that if a state is not named, it doesn’t mean money does not go to them. This is a misleading campaign. It pains me to hear that they could say that if you have not mentioned a state, it gets nothing.”
Sitharaman accused the opposition of distorting data to create a sense of fear. “If you want to distort, create a sense of fear, you can go about distorting data. In the last few years, we have sent ministers to each state to explain how much is given to each state,” she added.
To counter allegations that social sector and welfare schemes have been neglected, the minister read out a series of figures, comparing this year’s budget to the last. The opposition, led by Rahul Gandhi, has also claimed that the budget offered nothing for farmers, small traders, and MSMEs.
“The budget allocation for the Department of Agriculture and Farmers’ Welfare was only ₹21,934 crore in 2013-2014. However, in 2024-2025, it has increased to ₹1.23 lakh crore,” the minister stated.
Highlighting the five-fold increase, she said, “More than ₹3.2 lakh crore have been disbursed to over 11 crore farmers under PM Kisan since its launch.”
Yesterday, Leader of the Opposition Rahul Gandhi launched a fierce attack on the government over the budget, pointing out areas where it was silent, including issues like paper leaks and caste census