March 11, 2025: The opposition Congress MP Bimol Akoijam lambasted the state budget presented in Parliament, citing that the budget does not reflect efforts to address the crisis-affected people over the past 21 months. He questioned how the issue of 60,000 displaced people would be dealt with without the Centre’s help.
MP Bimol termed the budget a ‘debt-burdened’ economy, stating that fiscal liabilities stand at 37.07 percent of GSDP, which he described as a terrible state for the economy. He noted that no development project could be sensed from the revenue expenditure figure, which stands at 61 percent—roughly 45 percent of which goes to salary and pension—while capital expenditure accounts for 39 percent. He also stated that the budget lacks schemes to address the state’s basic economic anomalies from the non-tax revenue component.
During his speech, he said the current state budget speaks of exclusion and the contemptuous nature in which the present government has dealt with Manipur.
He also criticized the Prime Minister for not visiting the state, stating, “The rest of the country must know that there’s no visa issue for the PM to visit the country. He may go to Ukraine and talk about peace while his own citizens are being slaughtered, and more than 60,000 people have been rendered homeless. This kind of behavior can never be justified by anybody who swears by nationalism—it can only be done by those who swear by pseudo-nationalism and have a peculiar idea of a nation that seeks to exclude people.”
