Cartoons and memes flooded social media soon after Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman announced the Union Budget on July 23. Several users mocked what is being seen as an increase or fresh levies of different kinds of taxes with no no relief for ordinary Indians and taxpayers.
The subtext of allocating thousands of crores to Bihar and Andhra Pradesh, both ruled by coalition partners of the National Democratic Alliance, was not lost on anyone.
Sitharaman made a special allocation of Rs 15,000 crore for Andhra Pradesh and Rs 26,000 crore for Bihar. Both states had earlier demanded special status. The Janata Dal (United) in Bihar and Telugu Desam Party in Andhra Pradesh are crucial to making up a majority for the coalition led by the Bharatiya Janata Party.
One cartoonist alluded to the “price” of the prime minister’s chair.
One meme alluded to the crores allocated for infrastructure development in Bihar being misused.
Twelve bridges have collapsed in Bihar in the last two months.
Some cartoonists referred to the discontent among other states, especially those ruled by the BJP, over what is being seen as preferential treatment for Bihar and Andhra Pradesh to keep the ruling coalition stable.
In Maharashtra, the Opposition parties targeted the Eknath Shinde-led Shiv Sena and Ajit Pawar-led Nationalist Congress Party factions for supporting the BJP despite its perceived indifference to the state in terms of funding and project allocation.
Social media users also echoed their discontent over the lack of significant tax relief in the midst of an increase in the prices of essentials such as food staples.
The minor changes in income tax slabs were also not received well.
Visuals from and references to the extravagant, months-long celebration of the wedding of tycoon Mukesh Ambani’s son Anant Ambani were deployed.
Another social media user, again referring to Anant Ambani’s wedding celebrations, asked what the budget had done for ordinary Indians.
The finance minister, too, drew criticism and mockery for what social media users claimed was a freewheeling and ill-thought approach to taxing items.
One satirist imagined what went on behind closed doors while deciding how much tax to levy on what.
But perhaps little had changed in more than 30 years, pointed out one social media user with an RK Laxman cartoon from 1989 that summed up everyone’s grievances perfectly.
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