Union Budget 2026: Kerala finds barely a mention; leaders across spectrum, except BJP, flay neglect

While it barely gets a mention in Kerala’s Union Budget 2026-27, political leaders from different quarters have attacked the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) government for ignoring almost all of the State’s long-standing demands.

While Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan termed the Budget as a deliberate attempt to hinder the development of Kerala, Opposition Leader VD Satheesan said the Budget raises doubts whether Kerala is a part of India.

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) was the sole proponent of the Budget; State chief executive Rajeev Chandrasekhar said the State government had failed to implement Central allocations from previous Budgets. “Only the NDA’s twin-engine government can implement some things here (Kerala). How can a government that cannot build houses build high-speed rail?” asked Mr. Chandrasekhar.

Mr. Vijayan said that the Budget reveals serious discrimination and negligence by the Center towards the State. Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman deliberately forgot the fact that Kerala is also included in the map of India. The government’s long-standing demands for a special package for development of AIIMS, high-speed corridor and Vizhinjam port have been completely ignored. The Finance Commission’s rejection of the request to increase powers to the states and its decision to continue the status quo at 41 percent is a move that weakens federal principles. He said Union Ministers in Kerala must answer for the Centre’s negligence towards the State.

‘Providing benefit to companies’

“Based entirely on neoliberal economic logic, this year’s Budget is a policy document aimed at benefiting corporates and pushing common people further into poverty. Not only is Kerala not getting what it deserves from the Central share, the Union government is also trying to destroy the economic base of the State by deciding not to continue revenue gap grants. Overall, there has been a massive cut in the grant amount. The grant, which stood at ₹2.2 lakh crore in 2021, has now arrived. Given Kerala’s achievements in population control and domestic revenue growth, tax “The small increase in its share is only the State’s right,” he said.

Commenting on the Budget proposal on the rare earth corridor, he said that the Union government’s move to seize Kerala’s mineral wealth was extremely dangerous. “The announcement in the Union Budget will pave the way for private monopolies to engage in rare earth mining. The key move is to assist the private sector by expediting the issuance of environmental clearances by repealing even the stringent conditions of the Ministry of Environment. The State government had announced in the Budget that a rare earth corridor will be set up in the public sector connecting Vizhinjam, Chavara and Kochi. The central move to hand over mineral wealth to private monopolies is completely contradictory to the State’s announcements. It is dangerous,” said Mr. Vijayan.

‘A warning’

Mr. Satheesan said it was unfortunate that the Budget did not make any announcement for Kerala even though BJP leaders had repeatedly talked about AIIMS and bullet train line. “BJP’s campaign speech during the civic elections was around the slogan ‘Vikasita Keralam’. If they are developing Kerala in this way, it is a warning. Turtle Road has been included in the budget to show that Kerala exists. The Union government is trying to give away the mineral wealth of Kerala to corporates. This should be decided only after consulting the state. The budget statement on this can only be viewed with skepticism.”