Leader of the Opposition in Parliament Dr M Shafiqur Rahman. File Photo

SANGSAD BHABAN, June 29, 2026 (BSS) - Leader of the Opposition in Parliament Dr M Shafiqur Rahman today said a budget can be considered balanced and justice-oriented only when it ensures the rights and welfare of all people.

“A budget would be acceptable and successful when it gives equal importance to all sectors so that all stakeholders can get benefits from it,” he said while participating in the budget discussion at the Jatiya Sangsad, with Speaker Hafiz Uddin Ahmad Bir Bikram in the chair.

Finance Minister Amir Khosru Mahmud Chowdhury on June 11 unveiled a Taka 9.38 lakh crore national budget for the fiscal year 2026-27, setting the GDP growth target at 6.5 percent with the aim of recovering from the provisional 4.14 percent growth recorded in the outgoing fiscal year.

For the development of the education sector, the opposition leader urged the government to increase the education budget in line with the necessity to bring qualitative changes to the sector.

Alongside education, Dr Shafiqur urged the government to designate some specialised universities for conducting research; otherwise, the country will remain an import-dependent nation forever.

Talking about the revenue target in the proposed budget, he said more revenue than the target could be collected if the government maintained discipline in the tax collection system and took initiatives to recover looted money from the country.

He said a few dishonest businessmen had looted the country over the last 15 years and siphoned off Taka 28,000 crore, but the budget contained no guidelines on how to recover the stolen money.

“The budget deficit is not very high, but if we can recover one-ninth of the looted money, the budget deficit of FY2026-27 will be met. At the same time, the government should ensure punishment for those culprits, and we want to see visible action in this regard,” he told parliament.

Calling on the government to take proper initiatives for backward ethnic communities in the budget, he said a large portion of these communities live in hilly regions and lack adequate communication, education and healthcare facilities.

Regarding the health sector, the Jamaat Ameer said the sector lacked a clear vision, as the country was frequently duplicating foreign healthcare systems. He stressed the need for time-befitting research for the development of healthcare.

To improve healthcare services, the opposition leader suggested that the government should take action against public hospitals in the same way as private institutions.

Referring to the government's recent action against Ad-din Hospital, he said the private hospital had already been shut down, affecting around 750 students and nurses studying there. He urged the government to take humane steps so that the education of the students and nurses was not disrupted.

The people seeking overseas employment are being harassed as a particular syndicate is charging Taka 6-7 lakh per person instead of Taka 85,000 for migration to Malaysia, he said, urging the government to break the syndicate. “It would help increase overseas employment,” he said. 

Terming corruption a major barrier in the country, Dr Shafiqur said the government should work to eliminate corruption; otherwise, the budget would not be able to achieve its desired goals.

Regarding freedom fighters’ allowances, he said the government had proposed increasing allowances for certain gallantry award-winning freedom fighters, but the allowance should be increased for all freedom fighters.

On the role of the opposition in parliament, the opposition leader said the duty of the opposition was to identify loopholes in the budget, adding that a budget would become complete when it was enriched through discussion and criticism.

At the outset of his speech, the opposition leader paid tribute to Shaheed President Ziaur Rahman, commander-in-chief of the Mukti Bahini during the 1971 Liberation War General MAG Osmani, and all martyrs of the War of Independence and the July 2024 mass uprising.