President’s Budget address shows govt clueless on how to tackle economic situation, says Chidambaram

Former Union Finance Minister P Chidambaram took a dig at the speech delivered by President Ram Nath Kovind to a joint sitting of the two Houses of Parliament on Friday at the commencement of the Budget session.

Chidambaram slammed President Kovind for not addressing the economy, which is in critical condition, in his speech.

He took to Twitter to post a series of messages:

"The President’s Address is the first policy statement of the government in the new year. I looked for indications on how the government intended to tackle the grave economic slide. Alas, I found none."

"All that we heard was tiresome repetition of old slogans and old cliches that have lost all meaning in the last few years."

"Sadly, there was not a word on the macro-economic situation. Not a word on lost jobs, increasing unemployment and rising consumer price inflation. Not a word on the closure of thousands of industries, especially in the SME sector."

"The government is clueless, and therefore the President's Address was silent, on dwindling investment and rising number of stalled projects. The future of the manufacturing sector is bleak."

"The government’s re-statement of its policy on Jammu, Kashmir and Ladakh shows that it has learnt nothing in the last 6 months and is determined to heap injustice and humiliation on the 75 lakh people in the Kashmir valley."

"Likewise, the government has obstinately reiterated its hard line position on CAA unmindful of the protests by students, youth and women in every state of India. The government's rejection of the democratic resistance will only intensify the protests."