Departure from the past

The BJP has made many procedural changes to the Budget exercise

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman’s decision to carry her Budget speech in a prominent red bahi khata, the traditional cloth folder that has been used by indigenous businesspeople for centuries, instead of the usual leather briefcase marked a small but significant break from established practice through seven decades of Budget presentation. Multiple political symbolism was embedded in her decision: The reiteration of the Bharatiya Janata Party’s (BJP’s) nationalist, swadeshi ideology and the jettisoning of leather, a subliminal reminder of the anti-cow slaughter movement that was at the centre of Narendra Modi’s first stint as prime minister. This may have been the