Guwahati, March 10: The Assam Jatiya Parishad (AJP) has termed the annual budget for the financial year 2025-26, presented by Finance Minister Ajanta Neog in the Assam Legislative Assembly today, as a “beneficiary-oriented budget.” In a statement, AJP President Lurinjyoti Gogoi and General Secretary Jagadish Bhuyan stated that the budget was designed with the sole aim of securing votes for the BJP in the 2026 Assembly elections, with no genuine focus on public welfare.
According to Gogoi and Bhuyan, the primary responsibility of any government is to prioritize public welfare. However, Ajanta Neog’s budget fails to address this crucial aspect, instead prioritizing vote-bank politics for the BJP, which they called unfortunate.
The AJP leaders emphasized that Assam’s economy is primarily agricultural, with nearly 80% of the state’s population dependent on farming. Yet, farmers are struggling due to the uncontrolled and excessive rise in prices of fertilizers, pesticides, and seeds, coupled with a lack of adequate irrigation facilities. In such a scenario, the government should have allocated funds for proper irrigation systems and ensured an adequate supply of fertilizers, seeds, and pesticides. However, the BJP government has completely ignored the irrigation sector during its two consecutive terms, which, they warned, would have serious consequences for the state’s future.
Currently, 98% of Assam’s agricultural land lacks irrigation facilities, making economic progress in an agrarian state like Assam extremely difficult. Additionally, flood and erosion control was a key electoral promise of the BJP. Despite nearly nine years in power, the BJP government has taken no significant steps to address this issue. People had expected that the BJP-led alliance government might introduce some measures in its final budget, but it failed to do so. The budget makes no mention of any permanent solution to flood and erosion issues.
Furthermore, there is no roadmap in the budget to control the unchecked price rise of essential commodities, medicines, and construction materials. It also lacks any provisions for addressing the demands of ASHA workers, Anganwadi workers, contractual employees in the health sector, teachers, and para-teachers.
Apart from increasing the number of beneficiaries under the Orunodoi scheme to 37.2 lakh and expanding the coverage and benefits of other welfare schemes, the budget does not contain any notable provisions of development. The AJP leaders concluded that a politically motivated budget like this would not serve the real welfare of the people.
