Amid barbs and agitation, a Budget speech

FM completes speech amid din by anti-Telangana members

When the pepper-sprayed Lok Sabha met for the first time after the drama seen last week, it did so amid tightened security.

However, this didn't deter anti-Telangana members of Parliament (MPs). Five of them, including Union ministers K Chiranjeevi and D Purandeswari, were standing in the well of the House, even as Finance Minister P Chidambaram began his 2013-14 interim Budget speech.

Speaker Meira Kumar, who, among others, had borne the brunt of Thursday's pepper-spray attack by L Rajagopal, Congress MP and Lanco group founder-promoter, kept saying nothing would go on record and reminding members these were the last few days of the 15th Lok Sabha. She urged the finance minister be allowed to perform "an important constitutional duty".

About 10 minutes past 11 am, Chidambaram was advised to table the speech, a standard parliamentary practice of treating a document as read by the mere act of it being placed on the table of the House.

On Wednesday, Railway Minister Mallikarjun Kharge had to cut short his speech within minutes of invoking Ghalib to state he was saying the truth. He was forced to table his maiden Railway Budget speech without reading it fully.

But Chidambaram, an able lawyer and a veteran at speaking amid a din, was heard insisting he wanted to read the entire speech. "How can I do this? I will read it."

As Chidambaram spoke about the 10 greatest risks from a list of 31 in the Global Risks 2014 report and the twin deficits facing the economy, he had to face twin challenges in the House, too - a Seemandhra MP continuously protesting the Andhra Reorganisation Bill and Sansuma Khunggur Bwiswmuthiary of the Bodoland Peoples Front holding a parallel agitation. Amid the protests, a third front also emerged - members from Tamil Nadu walking down to the well of the House, protesting service tax on rice storage.

Paying absolutely no heed to the three-way protests, Chidambaram moved on to make a few populist announcements. And, just when members of the Trinamool Congress, a former United Progressive Alliance (UPA) ally, heard the minister talking about a moratorium on education loans, they came into the well, too, seeking a moratorium on the repayment of central loans to West Bengal. About six party members, including former minister of state for health Sudip Bandyopadhyay, started shouting slogans.

"Bengal Hungry" and "UPA government financial blockage" placards pushed back those that said "Save Andhra Pradesh".

But Chidambaram didn't give up. Quite uncharacteristically, he threw barbs at the Opposition by quoting Jawaharlal Nehru and then Sunil Khilnani on the values of democracy, religious tolerance, economic development and cultural pluralism. "I am sure the people of India will entrust the responsibility to a hand that will hold 'the sceptre swayed with equity'," he said, ending his hour-long speech with the couplet of late Tamil poet and philosopher Thiruvalluvar.