On Gandhi’s separate attack following the US announcement of tariff reductions, in which he accused Prime Minister Narendra Modi of “selling out” Indian farmers, Sitharaman declined to comment

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Tuesday dismissed Congress leader Rahul Gandhi’s criticism of the Union Budget for FY27 as “uninformed” and challenged him to cite specific gaps from the Budget document to support his claims.

Responding to Gandhi’s allegation that the Budget ignored unemployment, rural distress and a slowdown in manufacturing, Sitharaman said the charges had “absolutely no basis” and accused the Congress leader of making broad claims without factual backing. Speaking to PTI Videos, she dared him to identify any paragraph in the Budget that substantiated his criticism.

“I challenge him to point out exact and specific gaps in the Budget to prove each of the allegations he is making,” the Finance Minister said, adding that she was unwilling to lend credibility to accusations that were not supported by evidence.

Sitharaman underlined that the Budget for the fiscal year beginning April 1 places strong emphasis on youth skilling, entrepreneurship and emerging technologies, including artificial intelligence. She said the government had adopted a balanced approach by continuing traditional support for agriculture and rural employment while simultaneously strengthening youth-centric training frameworks to meet evolving labour market demands.

The Finance Minister questioned the basis of Gandhi’s arguments, asking how the Budget could be accused of neglect when it had made clear provisions for training young people, enabling entrepreneurship and ensuring India remains aligned with new technological trends.

On Gandhi’s separate attack following the US announcement of tariff reductions, in which he accused Prime Minister Narendra Modi of “selling out” Indian farmers, Sitharaman declined to comment. She said the commerce minister would address the issue with a statement in Parliament.