English Article

The Union Budget as litmus test of a rethink or stasis

Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman is to present the Union Budget next week, on July 23. This time the government is a Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-led coalition government. The Budget is not just a revenue and expenditure statement of the government. It has to be understood as representing the policy and the politics of the incumbent government.

Unlike in 2019, when the BJP had 303 seats in the Lok Sabha, it now has 240 seats. Coalition politics and the aspirations of the regional coalition partners cannot be ignored.