- Union Minister Kiren Rijiju said the 2026 budget is a national roadmap, not election-centric
- He rejected claims the budget favours states with upcoming elections this year
- Rijiju emphasised the government’s goal of making India developed by 2047
In an exclusive interview with NDTV, Union Minister Kiren Rijiju dismissed opposition claims that the 2026 Union Budget was tailored to upcoming elections in certain states.
Rijiju said that the financial blueprint presented by Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman is a roadmap for the entire nation, and not influenced by electoral cycles.
"Elections keep coming, and especially in India, right now the cycle is such that every year there are at least two phases of elections," he told NDTV. "The budget is for the nation, it's not for election-going states. So to tag the budget with the coming election, that is not correct."
States like West Bengal, Tamil Nadu, Assam and Kerala are all headed for Assembly elections this year.
The Union Minister of Parliamentary Affairs then spoke about his party and the government's vision of Viksit Bharat by 2047
"Our party and our government is very clear that we have to do everything to make India Viksit Bharat by 2047," Rijiju stated. "So this budget is a reflection of our commitment to make India a developed nation. So the reforms express, which is already started, in the third term of the Narendra Modi government, we have accelerated the reforms. So that is why it is called reforms express."
The budget itself, unveiled by Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, triggered immediate market volatility. The Sensex plummeted by over 1,600 points shortly after, though it later staged a partial recovery.
Key highlights included a ramped-up capital expenditure of Rs 12.2 lakh crore for the fiscal year 2027, alongside a targeted fiscal deficit of 4.3 per cent of GDP.
Individual taxpayers found no respite, with no adjustments to tax rebates or the standard deduction amid the rollout of the new Income Tax Act from April 1.
However, incentives for businesses were prominent, with tax holiday extending until 2047 for foreign firms establishing data centres to provide cloud services in India.
