‘Magical baits, imaginary dreams’: Sena(UBT) in Saamana on Union Budget

Mumbai, Feb 3: Shiv Sena Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray (UBT) on Tuesday claimed that Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman presented yet another budget in Parliament on February 1, which was a “magical collection of imaginary baits swapping the old unfulfilled promises for distant dreams of 2047”.

The Thackeray camp in the party’s mouthpiece ‘Saamana’ editorial said, “While the government talked about 12 years of robust economic growth, the immediate aftermath of the 85-minute speech saw a historic collapse and massive earthquake in the Indian stock market. She announced massive figures for fiscal deficits, tax collections, and allocations for various sectors. While Prime Minister Modi and ruling MPs cheered by thumping their desks, there was not a single effective announcement that common citizens, labourers, farmers, or middle-class investors could celebrate.”

The editorial said that while government supporters on news channels praised the budget as “visionary”, the stock market’s reaction provided a more realistic evaluation. The panic was triggered by new taxes on option trading and an increase in the Security Transaction Tax (STT) on futures. Within five minutes of the speech’s conclusion, the Sensex plummeted by 2,400 points, and the Nifty fell by 700 points. A staggering Rs 16 lakh crore of investor wealth vanished in an instant.

“While Prime Minister Narendra Modi hailed the budget as ‘Reform Express’, the market’s ‘objective evaluation’ told a different story, particularly for middle-class investors who increasingly rely on mutual funds and shares,” said the editorial.

Stepping up the attack on the BJP-led government at the Centre, the Thackeray camp said that despite high hopes for relief from inflation, the Finance Minister offered no changes to income tax limits, leaving the salaried class disappointed. Similarly, the agriculture sector — the backbone of the economy — received no mention of price guarantees based on production costs. It further added that while the Prime Minister once promised to double farmers’ incomes, it is the production costs that have doubled, leaving farming unprofitable.

The editorial highlighted a sharp divide between the government’s “words and deeds”.

“Questions remain as to why the Indian Rupee has fallen from Rs 60 to Rs 92 against the dollar over the last 12 years, and why the national debt has quadrupled from Rs 55 lakh crore in 2014?” it asked.

“Ultimately, this budget, which promises a Viksit Bharat by 2047, feels more like the mystery film ‘Bees Saal Baad (Twenty Years Later)’. After an immediate loss of Rs 16 lakh crore, the public is left wondering whether they should wait another 20 years for compensation,” remarked the editorial sarcastically.