NEW DELHI: According to the principal opposition party the Congress the Union budget unveiled by finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman today will be rejected by the people, terming it 'most capitalist budget to be ever read' by a finance minister.

Commenting on the budget, former finance minister and senior Congress leader P Chidambaram said that there are worrying macro-economic indicators, every key subsidy has been slashed and people will reject this capitalist budget.

Chidambaram expressed shock that the government was outlining a plan for the next 25 years when the country require urgent measures.

Talking at a media briefing, the former FM said, “I was astonished, shocked that the finance minister was outlining a plan for the next 25 years. The government seems to believe that the present does not need any attention and the public can be asked to wait patiently until 'Amrit Kaal' dawns. This is mocking the people of India.”

Chidambaram also tweeted a statement on the budget in which he stated, "Per capita income has declined from Rs 1,08,645 in 2019-20 to Rs 1,07,801 in 2021-22 (or even less), Per capita expenditure has declined from Rs 62,056 in 2019-20 to Rs 59,043 in 2021-22. An estimated 4.6 crore people have been pushed into extreme poverty. The unemployment rates have reached 8.2 per cent for Urban and 5.8 per cent for rural workers."

Further, in the statement Chidambaram said, after the budget was presented this morning, we asked ourselves what has the budget done to address any of these grave challenges. "The blunt answer is NOTHING," he wrote, accusing the government of being "Obdurate and Callous".