Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M.K. Stalin, on July 27, 2024, said the Budget presented by the NDA government had betrayed not only Tamil Nadu, but the people of the entire country.
“It was presented to save the selfish BJP’s chair. You (BJP) are making one mistake after another. I am saying it not just to voice the feelings of Tamil Nadu people, but the voice of the people of the country. You will face defeat after defeat. Like the two Houses of the Parliament that witnessed tumultuous scenes, the people are also angry and the BJP has to respond,” he said in a statement.
Mr Stalin said he was supposed to participate in the NITI Ayog meeting presided over by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday, but boycotted it because of the step-motherly treatment meted out to Tamil Nadu in the Budget. “As I am forced to seek justice, I am addressing the people of the country. You know the progressive and farsighted schemes implemented by the Dravidian Model government in Tamil Nadu in the last three years,” he said.
Reiterating that a good government should work not just for those who have voted for it, but also for those who have not voted for it, Mr Stalin said the DMK government had won election after election because its welfare schemes had benefited every family and every citizen.
“The governments at the Centre before the BJP followed the principle. But the BJP government does not have the broadmindedness and the budget clearly indicates its political motives,” Mr Stalin alleged.
He said Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman had presented a budget to settle scores with the people of the States that had rejected the BJP and favoured the INDIA alliance in the Lok Sabha polls. “It is against the oath taken by her in the name of the Constitution,” he said.
Mr Stalin said the BJP government was continuously neglecting Tamil Nadu and the only project it granted for Tamil Nadu was AIIMS in Madurai and people know about its incomplete status even after 10 years.
“How can the BJP expect the people of Tamil Nadu to vote for it when it has not come out with any special schemes for the state,” he wondered.
Mr Stalin said he thought that the BJP would have realised its mistake since it could not secure a majority and depended on a few regional parties to form the government. “But I am disappointed by its attitude,” he said.
Recalling Tamil Nadu’s expectations which he issued as a statement two days before the presentation of the budget, Mr Stalin said the budget had not even made a reference to Tamil Nadu. “The Finance Minister used to read out a Tirukkural couplet, but this time that was also missing. In a way it is a relief,” he said.
Mr Stalin said Tamil Nadu expected allocation for the second phase of the Metro Rail project for which the foundation stone was laid by Home Minister Amit Shah in 2022 in a hurried manner when the country was reeling under the pandemic caused by COVID 19.
“The Centre announced in the 2021 budget that the project would be jointly implemented by Tamil Nadu and the Centre at a cost of Rs 63,000 crore. The Centre has not released not even a rupee while the State government has taken all out efforts to implement it,” he said.
