Nothing for common man, Bengal in Centre’s ‘Humpty Dumpty’ budget: Mamata

PTI, KOLKATA, FEB 1, 2026: West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Sunday described the Union Budget for 2026–27 as a “directionless and visionless Humpty Dumpty”, claiming that it had nothing to offer to the common man and her state.

Speaking to reporters at Kolkata airport before leaving for New Delhi, Banerjee also alleged that allocation for key sectors had been slashed in the Budget.

“This Budget is directionless, visionless, actionless and anti-people. It is also anti-women, anti-farmer, anti-education and against the SC, ST and OBC... There is nothing on offer for Bengal... in the Humpty Dumpty budget,” she said.

“Education funds and subsidy have been slashed, along with social security subsidy and fertiliser subsidy. This is a garbage of lies... of Himalayan incompetence. The economy will be totally derailed,” the CM claimed.

Banerjee asserted that the impact of the Budget was visible in the way the stock market reacted.

“The Sensex went down by over 1,100 points, the Nifty 50 went below 25,000. You can clearly see the impact,” she said.

“For West Bengal, what have they given (in the Budget)? Nothing. They talk big, but offer nothing,” Banerjee, also the TMC supremo, alleged.

Referring to proposals related to infrastructure, Banerjee said the Centre “merely repeated” projects already announced.

“The freight corridor was mentioned in my Railway Budget in 2009. I had mentioned Dankuni and Amritsar. There has been no spending on this for the last 15 years,” she claimed.

“And, we have already announced six economic corridors. What they said about the three corridors is a lie,” the chief

IN BRIEF

Pakistan to boycott T20 WC game against India but compete in tournament

LAHORE, FEB 1, 2026: Pakistan on Sunday announced a boycott of its high-profile men’s T20 World Cup group league match against India, a move that is likely to have repercussions, even as the government cleared the national team’s participation in the rest of the global event, starting February 7.

The decision, conveyed through an official government statement, is being seen as a political protest linked to Bangladesh’s removal from the tournament after the world body declined its request to shift matches from India to Sri Lanka on security grounds.

In a statement posted on its social media handle, the government of Pakistan said it has granted approval to the Pakistan cricket team to take part in the tournament but said the team “shall not take the field” for the February 15 fixture against India in Colombo.

Its boycott is expected to pose logistical and regulatory challenges for the ICC, which has built much of the tournament’s scheduling, marketing and commercial strategy around the marquee encounter.

While a walkover would hand full points to India, the ICC retains the authority to impose financial penalties on the PCB.

Nothing for common man, Bengal in Centre’s ‘Humpty Dumpty’ budget: Mamata, minister asserted.

Banerjee said “investment was already flowing” into projects such as the ‘Jungle Sundari’ economic corridor in Purulia.

“For this corridor, Rs 72,000 crore is going to be invested. Investors have shown interest to set up cement, coal, leather and steel units,” she said.

Claiming that Bengal was being financially deprived, the CM said, “Now, there is only one tax. What they are collecting from Bengal, they are not giving us our dues, which is more than Rs 2 lakh crore... Hence, they don’t have any moral authority to run the government and destroy the country like this.”