PM Modi a dull student: Lalu

Picking flaws in the Union Budget 2016-17, the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) has criticised the four-month compliance window announced for domestic black money holders in the Budget. RJD supremo Lalu Prasad has called PM Narendra Modi ‘a dull student’ who has been rusticated for ‘cheating and 

lying’. 

“PM Modi got rusticated in the ‘examination’ for lying to and cheating the people by offering nothing for any section of the society in the Budget which he had promised before Parliamentary polls in 2014,” he said.

“He (the PM) emerged as a “bhusgol vidyarthi” (dull student) in the examination,” the RJD chief said. Prasad also attacked the BJP government over the one time four-month compliance window for domestic black money holders to come clean by paying tax and penalty of 45 per cent.

Prasad’s foe-turned-friend and Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar has also dubbed the Budget as disappointing. He declared that the PM had failed in the ‘examination’ and said the Budget promises ‘acchhe din’ (good days) only for those having black money. “There is nothing in the budget for farmers or any other section of society. People got only disappointment from the budget of the BJP government,” Kumar said. Mocking Modi, who had on Sunday said he had an exam on Monday with reference to the budget, Kumar said, “The result is out and he failed to pass.”

The Trinamool Congress (TMC) on Monday dubbed it as ‘hopeless’ and ‘stereotype’, and questioned the Narendra Modi government’s transparency over foreign direct investment.

“This budget is neither constructive, nor creative. It is a stereotype and routine. We are left with no option but to call it a hopeless budget,” the TMC said in a statement posted on its official website. TMC leader Saugata Roy said the Budget was dull and uninspiring. Roy said no new idea has been incorporated in it and no attention was paid towards tax and economic reforms.

CPI(M) general secretary Sitaram Yechury said it lacked vision and was full of “hollow promises”. It also burdened commoners by way of “inflationary” indirect taxation, he said. 

Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) supremo Mayawati said the Budget is disappointing for poor, middle-class and farmers. She said only tall claims have been made for the betterment of the farming community, but there is no mention of the steps being taken by the government.