A war of words broke out between Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla and Trinamool Congress MP Abhishek Banerjee during the discussion on Budget 2024 in the Lower House on Wednesday. While Banerjee claimed the House did not discuss the three farm laws that were later repealed, the Chair stressed that it did.
MP from West Bengal’s Diamond Harbour, Abhishek Banerjee said in his speech that the Centre got the agricultural bills passed “without any consultation with farmers, farmer organisations or Opposition parties”.
The Speaker then intervened, “Let’s set the record straight, this House discussed the issue for five-and-a-half hours,” to which, the TMC MP responded that no discussion took place. Speaker Om Birla then said, “When the Speaker speaks, he speaks right. You correct yourself.”
Banerjee, however, stuck to his guns, prompting the Speaker to say, “When I speak, I don’t speak wrong.”
Abhishek Banerjee also targeted the Narendra Modi-led government over the Budget and said it lacked “clarity of vision” and was aimed at satisfying BJP coalition partners rather than providing any relief to the country.
“This is a budget planned by two individuals to keep another two in good faith,” he said, adding that it was “planned by two, executed for two”. The TMC MP also alleged that the “anti-people” budget was crafted to “bribe two political parties and buy time before the government implodes”.
Earlier in the day, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman slammed the Trinamool’s criticism of the Budget. “Yesterday, the TMC questioned the Budget, saying nothing has been given to Bengal. Let me highlight the fact that several schemes given by the Prime Minister in the last 10 years have not even been implemented in West Bengal. And you have the audacity to ask me now?” Sitahraman said in Rajya Sabha.
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