Union Budget 2017: BJP eyes key vote banks ahead of elections

New Delhi: With polling in high-stake Assembly elections just three days away, finance minister Arun Jaitley reached out to farmers, the backward classes and small traders in a big way through his Union Budget.

Keeping his focus on the huge backward class vote bank in Uttar Pradesh and Punjab, Mr Jaitley announced over 30 per cent increase in Budget outlay for the welfare of the scheduled castes and scheduled tribes.

As per the 2011 census, Uttar Pradesh has the largest chunk of the total SC population, while Punjab has the largest share of dalits.

Aware that demonetisation has dealt a severe blow to the agriculture sector as it came during the kharif harvest and the start of rabi sowing, the finance minister announced a total allocation of Rs 1,87,223 crore for rural, agricultural and allied sectors for 2017-18.

With the promise of doubling farmers’ income in five years, he has set aside Rs 10 lakh crore for loans to farmers, increased the allocation for Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana to Rs 13,240 crore, set a target of 10 lakh farm ponds till March 2017 under MGNREGA and doubled the pace of road construction, among other things. He has also announced a massive 25 per cent hike in the MNREGA budget.

If the majority of UP’s population depends on farming activities, Punjab’s agriculture sector remains the largest contributor to the state’s GDP.

With the plight of debt-ridden farmers worsening due to the note ban, saffron spin doctors sensed that the party was losing its grip over rural India.  

To soothe frayed nerves of others hit by demonetisation, Mr Jaitley has provided tax relief to the middle class and the Sangh’s core vote bank — micro, small and medium enterprises (MSME).

The BJP has often been called a “traders’ party” as it has traditionally enjoyed the support of small businessmen. Besides being saffron sympathisers, this segment forms a major chunk of RSS cadre and leaders.

In Uttar Pradesh, both Bahujan Samaj Party and Samajwadi Party-Congress combination had begun to woo the traders. In social media, BSP has been consistently highlighting the problems being faced by small businesses because of demonetisation.

To counter that, Mr Jaitley has reduce income tax of companies whose annual turnover is below Rs 50 crore by 5 per cent.

The BJP’s “historic” Lok Sabha victory was in some way scripted by the middle class. The exodus of the middle class vote bank from the BJP began with Assembly elections in Delhi.

Reeling under the demonetisation blow, the middle class was waiting for the Budget with many expectations. The finance minister has provided some relief. He has proposed to halve the income tax, down to five per cent, for those earning between Rs 250,000 and Rs 500,000 per annum. According to the finance minister, this step “will provide relief to over two crore tax payers.”

In UP’s multi-corner contest, a major battle is raging to capture the dalit vote bank. The BJP’s attempt to put a pro-dalit face took a hit following attacks on the community by cow vigilantes and controversy surrounding the death of  Hyderabad PhD student Rohith Vermula. In UP, the BJP has been targeting the non-Yadav and non-Jatav backward vote banks.  

The SAD-BJP combination in Punjab could possibly lose the elections, and so a victory in UP for saffronites is crucial.