Turning down BNP’s assessment that it is a ‘reactionary and anti-people budget’, Commerce Minister Tofail Ahmed yesterday said the national budget for FY 2016-2017 is a fantastic, progressive and pro-people and implementable one, reports UNB. “The budget which has allocated crores of taka for social security, can’t be anti-people and reactionary one. It’s a progressive and excellent budget,” he said. The minister came up with the remarks while speaking at a pre-budget press conference at Osmani Memorial Auditorium in the city. Finance Minister AMA Muhith, Agricultural Minister Matia Chowdhury, Information Minister Hasnaul Haq Inu, AHM Mustafa Kamal and State Minister for Finance and Planning MA Manna were, among others, present at the press conference. Muhith on Thursday placed a Tk 340,605 crore national budget in parliament for the next fiscal year (FY17). In his party’s instant reaction to the budget, BNP senior joint secretary general Ruhul Kabir Rizvi turned down the budget saying it is an extremely ‘reactionary and anti-people’ budget. Disapproving Rizvi’s remark, Tofail said the BNP leader who has made such a comment he neither watched nor listened to the Finance Minister’s budget speech. He also said it is BNP’s bad habit that it cannot rcognise and tolerate the government’s any good works and initiatives. Meanwhile, Awami League publicity and publication affairs secretary Dr Hasan Mahmud today said like the previous years, BNP came up with a rhetoric reaction over the national budget of 2016-17 financial year without going through the budget speech of the Finance Minist, reports BSS.
Calling upon BNP leadership to express constructive criticism after going through the budget, he said, "Like a group of members of the civil society, BNP used to criticise the budget terming it as 'overambitious' as soon as it was placed in the Jatiya Sangsad (Parliament)."
The Awami League leader said overambitious budgets were implemented over the past seven years and it would be implemented this year too. Dr Hasan Mahmud said this while speaking as the chief guest a post-budget discussion at the Roundtable Auditorium of Dhaka Reporters Unity at Segunbagicha in the city. Bangladesh Swadhinata Parishad organised the discussion with its leader Md Shahdat Hossain Toil in the chair. Former Permanent Representative of Bangladesh at the United Nations Dr AKM Abdul Momen attended the discussion as the special guest. Dr Hasan Mahmud said, "Well ahead of placing of the national budget, BNP has written its reaction. In similar words used in the reactions of the previous years, BNP had given its reaction which was nothing but identical rhetoric of the last year. The speedy progress of the country would not have become possible had an overambitious attitude not been there."