Government trying to hoodwink people, has polls on its mind: Left

The Left parties called the budget a "big jumla" (rhetoric) of the government which has elections on its mind.

"This budget, being the last one for this government, clearly shows it is announcing the schemes keeping in mind the coming Lok Sabha polls.

"It is a campaign for them. We consider it as a 'big jumla'. We think it is an election campaign as talks are going on for early elections," CPI(M) Lok Sabha leader Mohd Salim told reporters.

CPI leader D Raja said the Union budget shows the "desperate attempts of the government to hoodwink the people" in 2018, in which several state polls will take place and "probably the Lok Sabha polls too".

"It is not a growth-oriented budget. There is no certain attempts for employment generation. The government has talked about doubling the farmer's income, but for that, the agricultural growth should increase up to 12 percent. That is not there," Raja said.

The CPI(M) said though the government has announced various schemes just like the previous budget, no specific details of their implementation have been given.

They pointed out that the government in its budget for 2018-19 has not announced any scheme for minorities, nor has it given any serious thought about gender budgeting.

"Even scheduled castes and tribes have lost their priority in government schemes," Salim said.

The Left leaders alleged that the government has been completely silent on the key issue of unemployment and has not provided any solution for permanent employment generation.

"Everybody cannot fry 'pakoras'. There is a serious distortion between employment and investment," Salim said, taking a swipe at Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

He was referring to Modi's recent remarks that 'pakoda' seller earning Rs 200 a day should also be considered employed.

The CPI(M)'s women wing All India Democratic Women's Association (AIDWA) termed the budget an "insult to poor women workers and farmers of the country".

"It is based on high rhetoric and overestimated projections of growth revenue," an AIDWA statement read.