THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: In his budget speech, Finance Minister K N Balagopal was vocal in his criticism of the Union government for centralisation of power and disregard for states and alleged that the NDA government’s conservative financial policy was the biggest challenge to Kerala’s alternative development model.
“We are not ready to abandon our alternative model or its virtues despite the hurdles posed by the Union government. Kerala has been able to reach here, not without having to face innumerable hurdles. This land is witness to its legacy of taking head-on both the caste-feudal-landlord hegemony and colonialism,” he said.
The budget speech called for joint resistance in coordination with other states against policies that demolish the federal values of the Constitution and reduce the fiscal space of the states.