The lack of MSP for groundnut farmers was a major source of discontent in Saurashtra, where BJP did poorly. However, there is very little for the salaried class in the budget. This alongside increased education cess means there is no acche din for the salaried class and the larger middle-upper middle class. Jaitley though defended the expected Rs 20,000 crore windfall through this move as essential for ‘nation building’. But the overwhelming sense on social media on Thursday was BJP is taking its main voting block for granted.

Source: dna February 02, 2018 11:16 UTC