The debate on the Union Budget in the Rajya Sabha on Monday began with a scathing attack from veteran Congress leader P Chidambaram, who listed four major economic challenges – capital disinvestment, rising unemployment, sluggish growth and weak revenue consolidation – and accused the government of disconnecting from ground realities and presenting what he termed a “budget”.
Congress leader P Chidambaram accused the government of disconnecting from ground realities and presenting what he termed a “forgettable” budget (PTI).Chidambaram questioned whether the government had even read the Economic Survey, saying, “The most charitable view is that they don’t care about the Chief Economic Adviser. The stranger view is that while the Chief Economic Adviser is bringing the government down to earth, the ministers want to soar and reach another planet as if we are not living on Earth.”
On the first venture-capital investment, Chidambaram said gross fixed capital formation has been stuck at 30% of GDP for nearly 12 years, while private investment has stagnated at 22% despite companies being cash-rich. Net FDI in 2024-25, he claimed, was “less than 0.09%” as foreign portfolio investors withdrew. “In this situation neither public sector nor private sector nor foreign investors are investing in India,” he said.
The second challenge, unemployment, he said, was the most pressing issue across the country. Youth unemployment stands at 15%, with less than 25% employment in regular employment as well as a shift to self-employment and agriculture. “In a country of 144 crore people, only 195 lakh are employed in factories,” he noted, adding that production has been stuck at 16% for the year. Referring to the Prime Minister’s Internship Scheme announced in the 2024-2025 budget, Chidambaram said corporate houses offered 165,000 internships, but only 33,000 were accepted and 6,000 left later. “The finance minister has to explain why this project has failed,” he said.
Highlighting the third challenge — slowing growth — Chidambaram alleged that GDP growth is slowing, from 12% in 2023-24 to 9.8% in 2024-25 and 8% in 2025-26. “You say Sanskar Express is running. This Sanskar Express has not derailed, but it is stuck,” he said. He cites economist Sujit Bhalla’s critique of real GDP calculations.
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The fourth challenge — fiscal consolidation —– Chidambaram said the government is moving away from the internationally accepted fiscal deficit metric to the debt-GDP ratio. “What saved the finance minister was not higher revenue but higher fiscal discipline,” he said.
Chidambaram also questioned the budget allocation, alleging cuts in defence, science, social welfare and urban development, and said several projects were announced without adequate expenditure. “This budget is cautious, frivolous and forgetful of last year. It has disappeared from the newspapers… It is a forgetful budget made by a finance minister who has forgotten the promise he made in Parliament last year,” he said.
In a counterattack, BJP MP Arun Singh defended the budget, saying its size had tripled over the years and credited the prime minister for controlling inflation. He highlighted the large allocation for housing for the poor and said ₹4 lakh crore has been transferred directly to farmers in lieu of farm loan waiver. Singh also claimed an increase in crop and horticulture production and said the allocation to VB G Ram G scheme has increased by 22% compared to last year’s MNREGS expenditure.
