February 10, 2025
Sushmita Dev’s speech during the General Discussion on the Union Budget for 2025-26
Mr. Vice-Chairman, Sir, I would like to start by thanking my Party for giving me the opportunity to speak on the Budget for 2025-26. I am honoured for two reasons as I am positioned very uniquely in this House. The first reason is that I come from a State in the North-East, my vote is in Assam, but 50 MLAs across Bengal have voted me into the Council of States. I thank my leader, Ms. Mamata Banerjee. The second and the more significant reason why I am positioned uniquely in this House is because when I look to my left and see so many Members of Parliament who come from the North-Eastern States, they tend to remain silent on all the ailing issues that the eight States of the North-East face. I feel lucky that when I look on this side of the House, when I look at the Opposition, I think, apart from Mr. Bhuyan, I am the only other Member of the Parliament in the Opposition. The silence on that side is killing – not a word on what happened in Manipur, not a word on what is happening in Assam and the NRC, not a word on the Nagaland Accord, not a single word of sympathy, not a single word of apathy. Sir, I would like to say that this Budget is an insensitive Budget; insensitive to the people of the country and more insensitive, in particular, to the North-East of India. I heard Prime Minister Modi say after the Budget that the sop that has been given to the middle class is going to have a multiplier effect. But, when it comes to the North-East, all the things that ail this nation, whether it is price rise, whether it is unemployment, whether it is lack of investment, the only multiplying effect that I know is that all these problems multiply as we go towards the North-Eastern States. I would like to say that it has consistently been the vision of the Government of India that they have given the States of North-East special status and special focus. Today, I recall, with a lot of respect and great tribute, our former Prime Minister, Dr. Manmohan Singh. It was his vision when he, in 1991, said that if we want the North-Eastern States to develop, then we have to Look East. What he meant was that the North-East was the gateway to the South-East and East Asia. It was a landlocked region of India and if it had to trade, if it had to create employment, if it had to attract investment, then we have to Look East. Whatever efforts were made by Dr. Manmohan Singh’s Government over decades have been undone by Prime Minister Modi by one single incident in one State, which is the State of Manipur. The Prime Minister Modi changed the Look East Policy to Act East Policy, but today, till the gateway to the South-East Asia, which is the State of Manipur, continues to burn, the Act East Policy is destined to fail. It is destined to fail, and I would like to say that today, with our security concerns with China, the political situation in Myanmar and the political situation in Bangladesh, I can tell you with great surety that the prospects of the economy of the North-Eastern States growing are rather dismal. I heard the hon. Finance Minister talk about Bihar. I heard the hon. Finance Minister talk about middle-class with the Delhi elections which were due. But, I never once heard the name of Manipur from the Finance Minister where 60,000 people have been displaced, where hundreds of people have been murdered and butchered and women raped and children who are out of schools. Thousands have fled from Manipur to different parts of India, whether it is Kolkata, whether it is Assam, whether it is Delhi. Today, what the Finance Minister should have said is not just Bihar, but she should have promised a comprehensive package for the rehabilitation of Manipur, which she did not. There should have been a comprehensive package because what happens to Manipur impacts all the North-Eastern States. Today, we cannot accept just a resignation of the Chief Minister as a solution to Manipur, and if the Manipur tapes are investigated, we will see, we will find out, and we want to know if it was State-sponsored mahyem that was created in Manipur. Now, I come to the cuts in the Budget. The nine lakh rupee Central pool of resources have been slashed by 30 per cent. The North-East Special Infrastructure Development Scheme’s allocation has been slashed by 39 per cent. Special development package has been slashed by 28.8 per cent. … Grants under PM-DevINE, that is, the Prime Minister’s Development Initiative for North East Region, have been slashed by 36 per cent. Grants to Autonomous Councils has been slashed by 96.6 per cent. Grants by Ministry of Home Affairs have been decreased by 45.6 per cent, and I can go on and on and on. When is this lip service to the North Eastern States going to stop, I want to know from the hon. Finance Minister? Madam, please tell us about ‘achche din’. Nobody knows about ‘achche din’. What happened to that? Then, we were all hoping for a ‘New India’. Nobody knows what happened to ‘New India’. Now, she says that our new destination is ‘Viksit Bharat by 2047’. I do not think, I will be alive and here in this Parliament to see what happens in 2047. Sir, I want to raise an important issue about my own State, the State of Assam. I thank the Government for giving us a urea plant. I have no problem with it, but this Government has systematically destroyed the public sector enterprises in the State of Assam. Two paper mills owned by the Hindustan Corporation have been shut down. We heard about ‘Advantage Assam’ from hon. Member of Parliament who just spoke before me, and, I want to say that more than 50 per cent of the investment that ‘Advantage Assam’ has attracted is from public sector undertakings and not private investment. Today, we hear that all the capitals of the North Eastern States will be smart cities. Let me give you just one example. Kalitaji is here. One flash flood in Guwahati, an eight year old boy falls from the scooter and gets drowned in the current of water! A flash flood caused it in Guwahati! Sir, the hon. Finance Minister talks about ‘Heal in India’ initiative and Medical Tourism. Medical tourism, for us in the North East, is that for small surgeries, for minimal treatments, we have to go to Chennai, Kolkata and Delhi. That is medical tourism for us in the North East. Let us talk about UDAN scheme. I come from a remote area in Assam called Silchar. I have been repeatedly saying it in this Parliament and I am pained to say that there is not a single route, I repeat, not a single route, from the Silchar airport which is recognized by UDAN. I ask myself why I want to say that it is a big slogan but this Government has to realize that without strong States, you cannot have a strong Centre. When is this Government going to realize this? Sir, the hon. Finance Minister said that she will start an index to see which are the States that are friendly to private investors. Please have an indicator of the States which you deprive, the States you deny, and the States which thrive despite that. I am talking about the State of West Bengal. Please add that indicator and you will see that West Bengal is ready, you will see that Mamata Banerjee has succeeded in Bengal not because of Modi Government but despite the Modi Government. Mr. Vice-Chairman, Sir, I hope, as Parliamentarians, we go beyond the headlines and look at the fine print to see that, in effect, it is an insensitive Budget which does not talk about unemployment, which does not talk about price-rise and which does not address the ailing and burning issues of this country. It is an absolute and total neglect of the North Eastern States and Bengal. Unless you rectify your ways, you will be routed from North-East and you will be routed from Bengal because, Sir, let me submit that today people are suffering and people’s voice in a democracy is the loudest voice. I can tell you that today Assam has got a urea plant and the one single reason is Assam is headed for elections, and Mr. Biren Singh has been asked to resign only because the entire tribal community of India has moved away from the Bharatiya Janata Party. With those words, I once again thank the party for giving me this opportunity. Thank you, Vice-Chairman, Sir. I wanted five more minutes. You should not be like a Finance Minister. Be gracious enough to give me five more minutes.
