CPI Narayana describes Union Budget as “useless and visionless”

Hyderabad: Describing the Union Budget presented by the Finance Minister as “useless and visionless” with no clear roadmap for national development, CPI Control Commission Chairman K. Narayana said he sympathised with Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, alleging that she was compelled to defend an “anti-people” budget.

Narayana on Sunday criticised the Union Budget 2026, accusing the Centre of prioritising corporate interests while ignoring the country’s socio-economic realities. In a statement, Narayana said that while Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman presented the Budget with an impressive figure of Rs.50.65 lakh crore--an apparent increase of Rs 2 lakh crore from the previous year--accounting for nearly 5% inflation reveals virtually no real growth.

He noted that 12.76% of the budget is allocated to debt repayment and interest, and 6.81% to defence, while critical social sectors remain underfunded. “MGNREGA has been allotted only Rs.86,000 crore, or 1.7% of the total budget, which is grossly inadequate to address rural distress. Education receives just 2.5% and health 2% (Rs 99,800 crore), despite repeated recommendations to allocate at least 10% to education,” he said.

Narayana criticised the budget for neglecting farmers, rural workers, youth and the unemployed. He described the allocations as “handing over public education and healthcare to corporate profiteers” and accused the government of reckless borrowing that consumes a significant portion of resources in debt repayment.

The CPI leader also flayed the Centre’s emphasis on airport infrastructure, arguing that public funds are being used to benefit private airlines while failing to regulate fares, exposing a “pro-corporate bias and inefficiency.”