Congress MP KC Venugopal speaks in the Lok Sabha. File | Photo credit: PTI
Opposition MPs in the Lok Sabha expressed their concerns over low per capita income, rising inequality and unemployment when they spoke on the Union Budget. “No economy can grow in an atmosphere of fear and hatred,” Congress MP KC Venugopal said while participating in the Union Budget debate.
Mr Venugopal claimed that as many as 80 churches were attacked during the 2025 Christmas season and referred to the Chief Minister’s controversial statement targeting a minority group in his state. The CM’s name was removed from the minutes of the meeting.
“No nation can prosper when communities are divided. Today (February 11, 2026), hatred has become a normalized situation in the country. State-sponsored terror in the name of what it proudly calls ‘bulldozer paradise’ has become a political tool,” he said.
Mr. Venugopal also raised the issue of the Indian rupee crossing the ₹91 mark against the US dollar, the urban youth unemployment rate at 18% and the top 10% of the population controlling 58% of the country’s resources. The rights-based approach of the United Progressive Alliance (UPA), reflected in laws including the erstwhile Mahatma Gandhi Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA), the Right to Information (RTI) Act and the Forest Rights Act, are being watered down or removed.
“The finance minister will proudly talk about growth and development. But behind these claims is this harsh reality,” he said. A Congress member from Alappuzha constituency in Kerala asked why his state did not yet have an All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) even though it was promised in 2014.
Bharatiya Janata Party’s (BJP) Anurag Thakur took aim at the latter shortly after the Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha, Rahul Gandhi. “The election losses filled him with hatred. He hates parliamentary rules, he hates the Speaker, he hates the constitutional institutions, he hates the Prime Minister and now he has come to hate India,” Thakur said.
In the Rajya Sabha, opposition members expressed concern over rising income inequality. Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) MP Sanjay Yadav noted that while India is now the world’s fourth largest economy, it is much lower on the per capita income rankings.
Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) MP V Sivadasan sought to counter the government’s claims that India is a high-growth economy by arguing that wages for ASHA and anganwadi workers had not been revised for a decade. Social welfare pensions have also remained unchanged for more than 10 years, he said.
“The government likes to tell us that we are the world’s fourth largest economy. But they don’t tell people that in terms of GDP per capita, our economy is ranked 123,” said Trinamool Congress (TMC) MP Saket Gokhale, citing official figures. “The problem with the BJP is that one foot is in 1947 and the other is in 2047. There is nothing at present,” Mr Gokhale took a swipe at the ruling party.
Arguing that the Union Budget has become “personality-oriented” rather than policy-driven, he argued that India’s urban youth now have lower purchasing power than youth in several conflict-affected countries.
Congress MP Rajeev Shukla criticized the interim trade deal between India and the US, questioning the government’s portrayal of it as a success. “Now they are saying that the 18% tariff is a success,” he said, adding that economists had warned that the deal was tilted in favor of the US.
Restrictions on Russian oil imports could raise fuel prices, Mr Shukla said. Economic growth alone is not enough, said former prime minister HD Deve Gowda, stressing that employment must be at the center of policy making. Whether success is measured by announcing investments or creating decent jobs, especially in smaller towns and rural areas, Mr. Gowda said.
Published – 11 Feb 2026 22:53 IST