Opposition lawmaker Shahjahan Chowdhury. Photo : collected

SANGSAD BHABAN, June 27,2026 (BSS) - Opposition lawmaker Shahjahan Chowdhury today said that the finance minister had presented a business-friendly budget instead of reflecting the interests of Bangladesh's 18 crore people.

"You (finance minister) are from a business family. So, you have given a business-friendly budget," he said the Jatiya Sangsad (JS), pointing to the finance minister.

The Jamaat-e-Islami MP from Chattogram-15 made the remarks while taking part in the discussion on the proposed national budget for the financial year 2026-27 with Speaker Hafiz Uddin Ahmad Bir-Bikram in the chair.

Criticizing the proposed budget, the opposition lawmaker said the budget is not people-friendly but in favor of businessmen as the minister belongs to a business family.

Quoting the finance minister's post budget address in the press briefing, he said the minister had said the proposed budget has been placed to make the business environment better.

The country is not only for the businessmen, but also for the 1 -crore people, he said.
 
Recalling former Finance Minister Saifur Rahman, Shajahan Chowdhury, an executive committee member of Jamaat-e-Islami, said the former finance minister used to make phone calls to the opposition leader seeking cooperation before placing the budget.

The lawmaker questioned whether those who prepared the proposed budget do actually uphold the spirit of July Uprising, saying that those who used to prepare the budget during the fascist regime have made the proposed budget.

He claimed that the proposed budget does not reflect the BNP's slogan - 'Bangladesh First'.

Calling upon the government to raise the agriculture budget, he said the proposed budget has neglected the farmers though Bangladesh will not survive without the farmers.

The opposition lawmaker said the proposed budget has raised allocations of 15 ministries but reduced the allocations of nine ministries, including Power, Energy and Mineral Resources, Agriculture, Public Administration, Overseas Employment and Expatriate Welfare, Home, Environment, Forest and climate Change and the Ministry of Industries.

Referring to Prime Minister Tarique Rahman's recent visits to Malaysia and China, Shahjahan said that the unanimous adoption of a thanksgiving motion in the JS reflected the spirit of opposition leader Shafiqur Rahman's slogan, 'Let's build Bangladesh together.' 

Saying that the domestic gas demand is rising, he called for higher allocations for gas exploration in the Bay of Bengal.

The opposition MP alleged that despite four months having passed since the government assumed office, it had failed to curb corruption in the power sector linked to capacity charges, while people were still not receiving uninterrupted electricity supply.

He claimed that Tk 85,000 crore had been embezzled from Islami Bank and alleged that former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and her sister Sheikh Rehana had laundered large sums abroad, but the finance minister did not address these issues in his budget speech.