Jamaat terms budget 'anti-people, loot-friendly'

Jamaat-e-Islami yesterday (11 June) staged a protest rally in the capital immediately after the presentation of the proposed national budget for the fiscal 2026-27, describing it as "anti-people but loot-friendly," and expressing their dissatisfaction with the additional tax burdens it imposes on citizens.

Speaking at a rally before the procession, Jamaat Assistant Secretary General and former MP AHM Hamidur Rahman Azad alleged that the government had presented the budget to sustain party loyalists at the expense of ordinary people.

"The government has imposed a burden of taxes on the people while presenting a budget aimed at maintaining party workers," he said.

Referring to the proposed Tk9.38 lakh crore budget, Azad claimed it failed to reflect the aspirations of the July uprising and instead followed the conventional pattern of previous budgets.

He described the budget as heavily dependent on loans and taxation, arguing that it would place an additional burden on citizens while increasing the country's debt liabilities.

Azad alleged that the size of the budget had been expanded to facilitate corruption and misuse of development funds by ruling party activists.

"Those who formulated the budget belong to the affluent class, which is why it is a pro-rich budget. They do not understand the suffering of poor people and therefore failed to present a people-oriented budget," he said.

Following the rally at the north gate of Baitul Mukarram National Mosque, participants brought out a protest procession that marched through Paltan intersection and Vijaynagar.

The demonstrators demanded that the government revise the proposed budget and announce what they described as a truly people-friendly budget.

Meanwhile, the NCP yesterday dismissed the government's proposed budget as overly ambitious and detached from economic reality, warning that the actual deficit could be nearly double the official figure.

NCP's Shadow Budget Committee chief and Joint Convener Atik Mujahid said the stated deficit of around Tk2.5 lakh crore masked a far graver fiscal picture.

"The actual deficit could approach Tk4.5 lakh crore," Mujahid said, adding that the revenue collection target of Tk6.95 lakh crore, equivalent to 10.2% of GDP, is simply unattainable under present economic conditions. "I believe the revenue shortfall alone could exceed Tk2 lakh crore."

While acknowledging that the proposed outlay is the largest in Bangladesh's history, the NCP leader argued it may equally go down as the country's biggest deficit budget in real terms.