New Delhi | INDIA bloc MPs staged a protest in Parliament premises on Wednesday over the alleged discrimination against opposition-ruled states in the Union Budget, with Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi saying the budget is an "assault on the sanctity of India's federal structure".
Besides Rahul Gandhi, Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge, Congress Parliamentary Party chief Sonia Gandhi, Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav, and several MPs of the Congress, TMC, Samajwadi Party, DMK and the Left joined the protest held on the steps leading up to the Makar Dwar of Parliament.
Protesting against the budget, Kharge said, "This budget is anti-people, no one has got justice. They have talked about special package but special status has not been given. This is a deceptive budget and injustice to the people."
Sharing a picture of the protest on his WhatsApp channel, Rahul Gandhi said, "Today, along with INDIA janbandhan MPs, protested against NDA's 'Kursi Bachao Budget' in Parliament House premises."
"This budget is an assault on the sanctity of India's federal structure - in the greed for power, other states of the country have been neglected and discriminated against. INDIA bloc will continue to raise its voice to provide equal justice to every state of India," Gandhi said in his post on WhatsApp channel in Hindi.
Later in the day, Rahul Gandhi also met his party's MPs who are due to speak during the budget debate in Parliament and urged them to take up the issue of discrimination against the states strongly.
Protesting against the government outside Makar Dwar, SP chief Akhilesh Yadav said Uttar Pradesh has been discriminated against. They snatched away jobs and are now talking of apprenticeships, he said.
SP MP Jaya Bachchan also slammed the budget, saying the youth have been given false promises.
The protesting MPs raised placards such as 'We want India budget not NDA budget' and 'NDA betrays India in Budget'.
"Yesterday, through the budget, the government of India violated all the principles to keep the federal system," Congress general secretary, organisation, K C Venugopal, said.
"The aim of the budget was to protect the government. Giving so many sops to just two states. We are not against giving funds to Andhra Pradesh and Bihar but other states should also get justice. That is why we are agitating today. Even the people are agitated with this," he said.
The decision to protest had been taken at a meeting of floor leaders of INDIA bloc parties at the residence of the Congress president on Tuesday evening.
Kharge, Rahul Gandhi, Congress' deputy leader in Rajya Sabha Pramod Tiwari, Congress' deputy leader in Lok Sabha Gaurav Gogoi, NCP (SCP) chief Sharad Pawar, Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Sanjay Raut, TMC leaders Derek O'Brien and Kalyan Banerjee, DMK's T R Baalu, JMM's Mahua Maji, AAP's Raghav Chadha and Sanjay Singh, and CPI(M)'s John Brittas, among others, had attended the meeting.
"The concept of a budget has already been destroyed by this year's Union Budget. They have completely discriminated against most of the states. So the general sentiment of the INDIA bloc meeting was that we have to protest against this," Venugopal had told reporters after the meeting.
Later, in a post on X, Venugopal had said, "The Union Budget presented today was extremely discriminatory and dangerous, which completely goes against the principles of federalism and fairness that the Union Government must follow."
In protest, Congress chief ministers will be boycotting the NITI Aayog meeting scheduled for July 27.
"This government's attitude is completely antithetical to Constitutional principles. We will not participate in an event that is solely designed to hide the true, discriminatory colours of this regime," he had said.