West Bengal Chief Minister, Mamata Banerjee, on Saturday, slammed the Union Budget, especially the proposal to list the Life Insurance Corporation of India (LIC). She called it as a part of an ongoing strategy to “ambush” the legacy of India's public institutions.

“I am shocked and appalled to see how the Central Government plans to ambush the heritage and legacy of public institutions. It's the end of a sense of security. Is it also the end of an era?” Banerjee wrote in a tweet.

Banerjee’s tweet came minutes after the Union Finance Minsiter, Nirmala Sitharaman, made the longest ever Budget speech. In her address, the Finance Minister has said that the insurance behemoth will be listed as part of the government's disinvestment initiatives.

Established in 1956, the Life Insurance Corporation of India is fully owned by the central government and has the highest market share in the country's life insurance segment.

‘From ICU to ventilator’

Meanwhile, West Bengal Finance Minsiter Amit Mitra criticised the Budget and said the “ economy is now on a ventilator”. According to him, the the Budget was “anti-people” with nothing for those ‘in the bottom of the pyramid'.

“Before the Budget, the economy was in ICU. Now its been put on a ventilator,” he said adding that “radical reductions” has taken place in funds for the schemes for agriculture, health, education, SC ST and together they constitute of reduction of 8.9 per cent.

Mitra called the income tax proposals in the Budget as a ‘bluff’ that was ‘giving (out) from one hand and taking more from second’.

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