New Delhi: Iss mod pe ghabra ke na tham jaiye aap
Jo baat nayi hai usse apnaiye aap
Darte hain nayi raah pe kyun chalne se
Hum aage-aage chalte hain, peeche aaiye aap...
The hard-nosed lawyer and country’s finance minister Arun Jaitley kept up the tradition of blending poetry with the Union Budget’s figures and economic jargon. His poetic barb quoted above was aimed at the Opposition, particularly the Congress, which has been flaying the government’s demonetisation move.
Mr Jaitley also gave a poetic twist to his “pro-poor” Budget. Amidst cheers and shouts of “ershad, ershad” from the Treasury benches, Mr Jaitley, sporting a black Nehru jacket over a chocolate-coloured kurta and white churidar, went on to express his so-called “new normal” and vision for a digital India in verse: “Iss mod par na ghabra kar tham jaaiye aap, Jo baat nayi hai usay apnaaiye aap (Don’t get nervous and stop at this juncture-adopt what’s new).”
Putting a poetic twist to the Modi-sarkar’s war on black money, Mr Jaitley said, “Nayi duniya hai, naya daur hai, nayi hai umang, Kuch the pahle se tariqe to kuch hain aaj ke rang-dhangh. Raushni aake jo andheroon se takdai hai, kaale dhan ko bhi badalna pada aaj apna rang. (It’s a new world, it’s a new regime, new hope and under this bright light, even black money was forced to change its colour).”
As BJP members roared with “wah, wah”, while vigorously thumping the desks in appreciation, Leader of Congress party in Lok Sabha, Mallikarjun Kharge, stood up to say, “Itna jor se mat desk bajaiye, tut jayenga (Please don’t thum the desks so hard, they’ll collapse).”
The Union Budget took off to a some what bumpy. The Congress, along with the Opposition parties, had wanted that the Budget be postponed by a day following the demise of former Union minister and sitting MP, E. Ahamed.
Trinamul Congress boycotted the Budget and Left MPs walked out, though some of them returned later.
Others missing were Congress president Sonia Gandhi, Samajwadi Party leader Mulayam Singh Yadav, Union ministers Manohar Parrikar, Harsimrat Kaur and Maneka Gandhi.
The finance minister began his speech by saying “today is the auspicious day of Basant Panjami” and that “spring is the season of optimism”. When he announced reduction of political funding from Rs 20,000 to Rs 2,000, BJP members asked the Opposition to thump their desks. A few seconds Congress leader Rahul Gandhi was seen thumping his desk in support of the move.
Of course, Mr Gandhi later said, “There was nothing in the Budget except shero-shayari.”
This is Mr Jaitley’s fourth Budget since the BJP-led government came to power after winning a spectacular mandate in 2014.
