New Delhi, February 13 Trinamool Congress leader Derek O'Brien pointed out on Friday that no minority groups were mentioned in Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman's budget speech, stating that the word "minority shareholders" was only used once during her 85-minute-long speech.
Accusing the government of overlooking all kinds of social, religious, and linguistic minorities, O'Brien said this reflects the government's mindset that perpetuates "hate crimes."
"In the entire budget speech, there was no mention of any religious, social, or linguistic minority. The only minority mentioned were minority shareholders. This stems from a mindset that perpetuates hate crimes," said O'Brien, the leader of the TMC in the Rajya Sabha, to news agency PTI.
He further stated that this same mindset is reflected in actions such as the cancellation of the Foreign Contribution (Regulation) Act (FCRA) for several institutions run by minority groups, and the National Commission for Minorities remaining headless for over a year.
"The FCRA has been cancelled for over 2000 institutions run by the Christian community. Three out of four students who attend educational institutions run by Christians are from other communities. The positions of chairperson and members in the National Commission for Minorities (NCM) are vacant, and no meetings have been held for the last year," he said.
O'Brien added that there was also no mention of social minorities, such as the LGBTQ community, in the budget address.
"This means that this hatred towards minorities is part of the DNA of this government. They could not even find a Muslim and give them the respect of having a minister for minority affairs from the far largest minority community," the TMC leader said.
Taking aim at Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma, O'Brien said, "Now you know why the Assam chief minister makes those videos. It is the policy of this government to hate and target minorities."
Sarma has been at the center of a major political controversy over his remarks on "Miya Muslims," and later over a now-deleted video posted on the state BJP's social media which purportedly showed him aiming with a rifle and firing at two individuals — one wearing a skull cap and the other with a beard — with the caption "point-blank shot."
A total of Rs 3,400 crore is the budgetary estimate for the Ministry of Minority Affairs in this year's Union Budget, which is Rs 50 crore more than the budgetary estimate of the previous financial year and approximately Rs 1,240 crore more than the revised estimate of 2025-26.