March 27, 2026
Saket Gokhale’s speech on The Finance Bill, 2026 and The Appropriation (No. 2) Bill, 2026
Sir, we are discussing the Finance Bill today. I want to start by dispelling one jumla which is being carried on since about seven-eight o’clock this morning. Today, the Government has announced a cut in Excise Duties on petrol and diesel. Obviously, with crude oil prices rising the way they are, with all the tension in West Asia, it was quite expected that the prices of crude oil will go up and they have gone up very highly. The Ministers of this Government since the morning are talking about this, and I am sure, a lot of speakers today will also talk about how the Modi Government is taking a hit to its own resources, to its own revenues instead of increasing petrol and diesel prices. I will tell you why this is happening. This is happening because four major States are going into elections. The only reason that this Excise Duty cut has been done today is because this Government cannot, absolutely cannot, raise fuel prices when four major States are going into elections. If this Government really cared about the welfare of people so much and not burdening people with prices, for the last four years, the Government was purchasing crude oil at extremely discounted prices, that is, below $60 per barrel, then, why did it not pass on the benefits to the common people? We were purchasing discounted crude oil from Russia. In these four years, from this benefit of discounted crude oil purchased from Russia, not a single rupee was passed on to the consumer at the petrol and diesel pumps. So, for four years, we were buying discounted crude oil. The Government was not incurring any additional expenditure. In fact, the Government was saving money, but none of these savings were passed on to the consumers. Therefore, when the hon. Finance Minister replies, I only have one request from her. Will she give a commitment on the floor of this House that after 29th of April, when the voting is completed in all four States, the Government will promise that it will not increase the petrol and diesel prices at fuel pumps even by one rupee? That is the commitment that the Finance Minister should give today, that this Excise Duty cut is permanent and we are not going to raise prices after 29th of April. They should do that. But, the problem is that this Government does not think about people. They only think about elections. Do you know why ‘one nation, one election’ is such a bad idea? It is because regular elections make them care a little bit about people. The reason they want ‘one nation, one election’ is that once the elections are done, for five years, they can work * without any checks and balances. The Finance Bill and the Budget, very surprisingly, entirely failed to grasp the winds of change that had been going around the world since the last two years. I will quote the hon. Finance Minister from her Budget Speech. She said, “Today, we face an external environment in which trade and multilateralism are imperilled and access to resources and supply chains are disrupted.” Clearly, when she gave her Budget Speech, the hon. Finance Minister was aware of the global cues. But, that was limited to mere rhetoric when it actually came to what was presented to the Parliament. The Economic Survey, which came two days before, was even more candid. The Economic Survey stated, “Geopolitical fragmentation, commodity price volatility and disrupted logistics are major risks to the Indian economy.” Yet, nothing was done by this Government to hedge the economy and protect us from risks in all the financial papers that have been presented after that. The entire Budget was designed, assuming that oil prices will remain at between 65 to 70 dollars per barrel. The situation in West Asia did not happen suddenly. Iran had been invaded earlier as well. There had been blockade by the Houthis in the Strait of Hormuz. So, it is not something that was unpredictable or something that caught us unaware. This tension in West Asia has been going on for a fair bit of time. Sir, Prime Minister Modi interestingly visited Israel two days before the bombing of Iran started. Now, there is a question. Did the Israelis inform Prime Minister Modi during his visit that after two days, they were going to start bombing Iran? If they did not, this is * of the highest order. Prime Minister Modi calls himself a Vishwa Guru. He visited Israel, and they did not even tell him, they were planning to bomb Iran after two days. There is another possibility that the Israelis did inform Prime Minister Modi that, “Yes, Mr. Modi, in two days, we are going to start bombing Iran.” There are only two possibilities, Sir. It can be the east or it can be west. So, the question then is: why was the narrative, after Prime Minister Modi came back, created about some shiny medal that was given to him in Israel and not about the impending attack on Iran? When Prime Minister Modi came back from Israel, if he was informed of the attack on Iran, why did he not start building up India’s petroleum reserves? Why did he not start looking at how the LPG crisis might affect the country? Why was this country only talking about a fake medal that was given in Israel and that was the only narrative that was going on at that point? And now, suddenly after the Budget, the Government is waking up. They are holding closed-door meetings with parties. They are not discussing it in the Parliament. A suo motu statement is made without any questions. And then, you are saying, you are going to meet the Chief Ministers. The Parliament is in Session. Where is the transparency? First, you were caught sleeping and now you want to discuss everything in a closed room. Sunshine is the best disinfectant. Come to Parliament and discuss the West Asia crisis. Now, let me share some facts, some hard facts. This is beyond politics. India roughly imports about 88 to 90 per cent of our crude oil requirement. With the current rise in oil prices, India’s import bill is going to rise by 4 to 6 lakh crore of rupees. The hon. Member, who spoke before me, was talking about fiscal deficit. With this one data point, you can imagine what difference it is going to have on India’s fiscal deficit. Let me mention another interesting fact. It is about LPG. In this year’s Budget, the LPG subsidy allocation has been cut by 27 per cent from last year. 27 per cent cut! Sir, interestingly last year, when LPG subsidy budget allocation was done, the Revised Estimate was 66 percent higher than the Budget Estimate. This was way before any war started. It means that even at that point, the Government did not realize that they have to spend more on LPG subsidies because that is a problem that the poor and the vulnerable are facing. Sir, sixty-six per cent was the increase from Budget Estimate to Revised Estimate. But, now, amidst the ongoing tension in West Asia, this year, they have decided to cut the LPG subsidy allocation by 27 per cent! Sir, when it comes to LPG, the Government had budgeted no money to help the poor and middle classes of this country. In fact, the price of the LPG cylinder was hiked by 60 rupees overnight. Today, they are talking about Excise cut and that to protect the people, * Why was the LPG cylinder price increased by 60 rupees? Why was the burden put on the consumer? Why couldn’t the Government absorb that? Sir, the problem is, because the elections are coming, they don’t have an option today but to absorb it. 29th April onwards, the fuel prices are going to go up at the pumps. Sir, the total fuel and petroleum subsidy of a country like India amounts to 2.6 per cent of the entire subsidy bill. In a country, which imports 88 per cent of crude oil, only 2.6 per cent is allocated in the total subsidy for fuel and petroleum. Oil prices are at a historic high; rupee has gone below 93; our import bill is going up; and, oil has become more expensive, Sir, let me also talk about petroleum reserves. This year, the Government slashed the strategic petroleum reserve allocation by 97 per cent. Last year, what was the total allocation for strategic petroleum reserve? The allocation was Rs. 6,000 crore. How much did we spend? We spent only Rs. 1,000 crores! So, only 17 per cent of the budgeted amount was spent on strategic petroleum reserves last year. Because of that, what is the state of the strategic petroleum reserve today? Let us be very clear about it. These are numbers. Sir, currently, we have the reserve of 5.33 million metric tons across three facilities in India. These three sites are not using their 100 per cent capacity. They are only filled up to 64 per cent of their total storage capacity. This means that the Government by itself, excluding others, has only nine days of crude oil supply left in its reserves. Nine days of crude oil supply is all we have! If we count the commercial storage of OMCs, we only have 74 days of storage capacity left with us. Let us compare that with other oil importing countries. Japan has 254 days’ reserve, South Korea has 208 days’ reserve, China has 200 days’ strategic oil reserve, but India has only 74 days’ reserve! Sir, I heard the hon. Finance Minister’s reply on the Finance Bill in the Lok Sabha. Obviously, because elections are coming, everyone wants to show that they care about Bengal. After having not cared about it for five years, suddenly, there is a renewed interest. But, I have to appreciate something. As a fellow student of Bangla, I appreciate that; during her speech, hon. Finance Minister tried to speak one sentence in Bangla. While it was to attack us, that is a different story altogether, but she attempted. I am also someone who has been learning Bangla. I have not had a chance to speak in Bangla here for the last two and a half years because I have also been learning. But I am delighted that the hon. Finance Minister now is also a fellow learner of Bangla like me. The difference is that, unfortunately, she and her party will never get a chance to represent Bengal here. Our party does, but that is a different story. So, as part of my learning Bangla, I wish to share a few lines with the hon. Finance Minister, which will enrich our knowledge. I apologize for my pronunciation as I am a learner. Hon. Finance Minister might be learning faster me. The Union Government has deprived the people of the State of West Bengal by withholding about Rs. 2 lakh crores of legitimate dues to the State. The Union Government has sensed defeat in the upcoming election to the West Bengal Legislative Assembly and, accordingly, they have imposed an undeclared emergency in the State because the BJP knows they are losing the upcoming State elections. The third is, the Union Government is trying to hide the LPG and fuel crisis engulfing the entire country. And the fourth one, Sir, is very important. It is my favorite one. On the 4th of May, Ms. Mamata Banerjee, whether they like it or hate it, doesn’t matter, will become the Chief Minister of Bengal for a historic 4 th term.
