Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman (L), and Congress leader Rahul Gandhi
Credit: PTI Photos
New Delhi: Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman dismissed Congress leader Rahul Gandhi's criticism of the Union Budget as "uninformed", as she challenged him to stand before her and substantiate his claims of gaps in the Budget with evidence from the document.
Responding to Gandhi's charge that the Budget ignored unemployment, rural distress and a slowdown in manufacturing, Sitharaman, in an interview with PTI Videos, said the allegations had "absolutely no basis" and accused the Congress leader of making sweeping claims without specifics.
"I challenge him to point out any paragraph in the Budget that supports these accusations," she said, adding that the government had focused on youth skilling, entrepreneurship and emerging technologies, such as artificial intelligence.
Sitharaman also gave details of the Budget that blends traditional support for agriculture and rural jobs with a renewed push for skilling and youth-centric training frameworks to meet emerging labour market needs.
Asked about the criticism levelled by Gandhi, the minister said she would be giving credibility to an allegation which has absolutely no basis.
"I would like him to give exact specific gaps in the Budget to prove each one of these things that he's throwing at the budget," she said. "I challenge him on it." She went on to state that her Budget for the fiscal year beginning April 1 has made provisions for training youth, creating opportunities for them to become entrepreneurs and making sure AI is not missed out on all these things.
After providing for all this, "where is he coming with these arguments? Please ask him to highlight any paragraph which reveals any of this", she added.
Asked about Gandhi's renewed attack, following the US announcement of a tariff reduction, where he accused Prime Minister Narendra Modi of "selling out" Indian farmers, Sitharaman declined to engage, saying the commerce minister would make a statement in Parliament addressing the issue.