A walkout in the midst of a 'colourful' Budget, but the mood stayed bright

Artist Dulari Devi’s gift to Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman could well turn out to be the best among the Bharatiya Janata Party’s (BJP’s) Budget presents to Bihar, where Assembly elections are due later this year.

 

Sitharaman was on a visit to Mithilanchal for a credit outreach event when she met Padma Shri awardee Dulari Devi, a self-taught Madhubani painting artist. Dulari Devi had painted scenes from her village, resplendent with dancing butterflies and leaping fish on a white sari with a gold border. She handed it to the minister with the request that she wear that sari on the day she presented her next Budget. Sitharaman honoured that request on Saturday.

 

“Manufacturing, manufacturing, manufacturing! MSME, MSME, MSME! Bihar, Bihar, Bihar,” exclaimed Union Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw when he was asked what the Budget meant to him. A new thrust to makhana production via a centrally funded Makhana Board (Bihar contributes 98 per cent of India’s production of the new-age superfood), a new institute of food technology, also to be located in Bihar, expanding greenfield airports in the state, augmenting the Indian Institute of Technology in Patna, a boost to the Buddha tourist circuit, and farmer support to Mithilanchal were only some of the Budget breaks Bihar managed to snare, prompting a spirited intervention by Mohammed Javed, Lok Sabha member from Kishanganj. No other MP from the state wanted to look a gift horse in the mouth, though the announcements did elicit satirical hoots from the Opposition Benches.

 

Budget speeches have rarely seen Opposition walkouts in the past. In a rare occurrence, the entire Opposition barring the Trinamool Congress moved to the well of the House and walked out as the minister began her speech. The Samajwadi Party (SP) led the charge, and though both Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi were present in the House, the Congress did not try to rob the SP of the moment as Akhilesh Yadav and his colleagues raised the issue of stampede deaths at the Maha Kumbh. The Congress shouted slogans of “dharmavirodhi Modi Sarkar”, but was a follower rather than the leader of the disruption. Rahul Gandhi and his colleagues did not join the SP in moving to the well. But the Opposition was back after a few minutes, to shouts of “namaste” from BJP MPs.

 

Although Prime Minister Narendra Modi thumped the table on a number of occasions, his biggest endorsement was for the announcement that blue leather would be fully exempt from basic customs duty (BCD); the resolve that India would amend the civil liability law to enable a new thrust to nuclear energy; initiatives for gig workers; and duty exemption for cancer medicines.

 

The Treasury Benches erupted with joy when the restructuring in income-tax slabs was announced, breaking spontaneously into chants of “Modi, Modi”.

 

Baijayant Panda, BJP vice-president and in charge of Delhi affairs of the party, was virtually mobbed by party colleagues when he walked into the House. Elections in Delhi are due on February 5. A few MPs shouted “Delhi” when the income-tax rejig was announced.

 

If the House had a colour, it was blue-green: From the pagdis of Aam Aadmi Party MPs to the pale-green and deep-blue saris worn by women on both sides of the divide. But the mood in the Lok Sabha at the end of the speech, especially after the income-tax announcement, wasn’t blue at all.