'Unprecedented fiscal mismanagement': Congress slams government over J&K Budget

New Delhi: Days after the Budget for Jammu and Kashmir was presented in Parliament, the Congress on Friday accused the government of "unprecedented fiscal mismanagement" and asked why Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman was "benevolent" to Andhra Pradesh and Bihar but not to the Union territory.

Congress general secretary in-charge of communications Jairam Ramesh said that on July 23, Sitharaman presented the Budget for Jammu and Kashmir in Parliament.

"The present Finance Minister has the dubious distinction of being the only Finance Minister of India who has presented six state budgets, since the Union government has refused to hold Assembly Elections since the dissolution of the J&K Legislative Assembly in November 2018," Ramesh said in a statement.

"It is our sincere hope that the next J&K budget is presented in the J&K legislature, by an elected Finance Minister, and discussed by legislators elected by the people of J&K," he said.

The tragedy of the Union finance minister's presentation of the Budget aside, the Budget documents also reveal some astonishing details, Ramesh claimed.

"The FM got approval from Parliament to borrow Rs 12,000 crore last year. This year, Budget documents reveal that the actual borrowings were twice the amount, at Rs 24,000 crore. Borrowings have risen five-fold in the last two years. This is unprecedented fiscal mismanagement," he said.

Last year, the finance minister promised to raise Rs 7,800 crore in Additional Resource Mobilisation (ARM) and managed to raise only Rs 1,000 crore, he said.

"The fiscal deficit which was pegged at 1.6 per cent has turned out to be 5.36 per cent in FY24 - more than three times the original estimate. Capex has been slashed by 10. Meanwhile, under the Union Government's tutelage, the share of J&K in national GDP has declined from 0.9 per cent in 2015-16 to 0.8 per cent in 22/23," Ramesh said.

Posing questions to the finance minister, the Congress leader asked how does the grim reality of the state's finances square up with the tax/GDP ratio of the state increasing from 5 per cent to 8 per cent in three years.

"Are the people of J&K being subject to heavy taxation without any corresponding increase in their welfare," he asked.

Since the government takes great credit for fiscal prudence at the national level, will it take the blame for this fiscal profligacy at the state level, Ramesh added.

"The unemployment rate in February 23 in J&K was 17 per cent compared to 6.6 per cent in Andhra and 12.3 per cent in Bihar. Why has the FM chosen to be benevolent to AP and Bihar, but not to J&K," he asked.

He said the last, and perhaps the most "worrying development" is the finance minister's announcement that "the Union Government has agreed to take the entire burden of the budget of police" in J&K by spending Rs 12,000 crores.

"This was earlier being done by the Union Government as part of the Security Reimbursement Expenditure (SRE), since the onset of militancy in the early 1990s. When this is not a unique, new financial obligation, why has it been repackaged from a 'reimbursement'," Ramesh asked.

Has the police salary liability been taken over by the Union government in perpetuity or is it a one-time support, he added.

"Does it reflect the government's intention to rule the state from Delhi in perpetuity by retaining the home affairs of J&K with the Union Government? Will the FM commit in the House that taking over police salary liability is not a Trojan horse - and that when J&K is upgraded back to being a state, police and security matters continue to be with the state," the Congress general secretary said.