Union Budget 2023-24 has Given 'Nirasha' Instead of 'Asha': Akhilesh Yadav

New Delhi: Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav on Wednesday (February 1, 2023) said that the Union Budget for 2023-24 has given "nirasha" (despair) instead of "asha" (hope) to people of the country and alleged it has further "increased" inflation and unemployment. 

"The BJP is completing a decade of its budgets, but what will it give now when it did not give anything to the public earlier," Yadav said in a tweet in Hindi.

"The BJP's budget further increases inflation and unemployment. It does not give 'asha' but 'nirasha' to farmers, labourers, youth, women, professionals and the business class. This budget is for the benefit of a few rich people," he added.

भाजपा अपने बजट का दशक पूरा कर रही है पर जब जनता को पहले कुछ न दिया तो अब क्या देगी।

भाजपाई बजट महंगाई व बेरोज़गारी को और बढ़ाता है। किसान, मज़दूर, युवा, महिला, नौकरीपेशा, व्यापारी वर्ग में इससे आशा नहीं निराशा बढ़ती है क्योंकि ये चंद बड़े लोगों को ही लाभ पहुँचाने के लिए बनता है।

— Akhilesh Yadav (@yadavakhilesh) February 1, 2023

Earlier in the day, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman presented the budget for the fiscal year 2023-24 in Parliament and said that it hopes to build on the foundation of the previous budget and blueprint for India@100.

Sitharaman, who presented her fifth full Budget after she took over as Finance Minister in July 2019, said that this is the first Budget in Amrit Kaal.

This, notably, is the last full Budget of the second term of the Narendra Modi-led NDA government ahead of the general elections in 2024.