Trinamool Congress leader Saugata Roy on Wednesday said the Lok Sabha should have condoled the deaths of persons in the country after the November 8 demonetisation.
Participating in a discussion on the Union Budget 2016-17, Roy said that since the government was not paying condolences, he would do it.
"A condolence should have been made for those who lost their lives... I offer condolences to the families of more than 150 persons who died (while standing) in (ATM and bank) queues due to demonetisation," Roy said.
He also slammed the Budget for, what he said was, absence of reforms, and said the government thought that the demonetisation of the high-value currency notes will bring in revenue, but it did not happen.
"Why is this a conservative Budget? No reform steps have been taken," the TMC leader said.
"The government expected only Rs 10 lakh crore out of the demonetised currency totalling Rs 15 lakh crore will come back... but that will not happen," he said.
Roy also questioned the low spending on defence and said: "We are spending only 26 per cent of China's defence budget."
He also rued that the Budget did not even mention the Minimum Support Price for crops amid what he called is an "agrarian crisis".
--IANS
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