Post India’s 2nd digital budget, Prime Minister Narendra Modi greets Opposition in rare show of bonhomie

Aditi Tandon

New Delhi, February 1

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Tuesday presented India’s second digital budget attracting frequent applause from the treasury benches and little intervention from the largely mute opposition.

But for few swipes that TMC’s Sugata Roy took on the occasion, the broad opposition looked fidgety but staid.

Congress President Sonia Gandhi, Samajwadi Party patron Mulayam Singh Yadav and his son and SP chief Akhilesh Yadav were conspicuous with their absence, although National Conference patron Farooq Abdullah was present.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi led the praises for the finance minister, often thumping his desk, giving a cue to the entire ruling side to follow suit.

Announcements with respect to river linking, digital university, digital rupee, amendments to agriculture varsity syllabi to work towards zero budget natural farming, eased insurance policies for the differently-abled and e-passports spurred the highest levels of excitement on the treasury side even as senior opposition leaders Rahul Gandhi of the Congress, A Raja of the DMK, Sugata Roy of the TMC and Supriya Sule of the NCP often gestured at the FM in disinterest.

“It is a general lecture not a budget speech,” Sugata Roy said at one point.

On another occasion, he loudly uttered “Gujarat, Gujarat” when the FM announced the establishment of a GIFT City where world-class foreign universities and institutions will be allowed to offer courses in financial management, FinTech, Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics free from domestic regulations.

FM’s 90 minute speech referred to the wisdom of India’s ancient texts and quoted the Mahabharata to argue for righteous taxation.

The reference followed Sitharaman’s fiscal deficit announcement of 6.9 pc of the GDP as against 6.8 pc projected in the budget estimates.

“The king must make arrangements for Yogakshema (welfare)

of the populace by way of abandoning any laxity and by governing the state in line with Dharma, along with collecting

taxes which are in consonance with the Dharma,” the FM said quoting Shanti ParvaAdhyaya. 72. Shlok 11 of the Mahabharata.

The opposition was quick to give it back with Congress veteran Mallikarjun Kharge later saying “This is a budget for Dronacharya and Arjuna, not Eklavya.”

It was the Congress way of terming the budget “pro rich and anti poor”.

In Lok Sabha, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi looked mostly uninterested in the announcements and later called the budget a “zero sum exercise with nothing for the poor, the salaried, the middle class, youth, farmers or the MSMEs”.

As the FM read her budget speech from an iPad, Rahul Gandhi too read from his own from iPad, perhaps engaged with Punjab developments where a nomination for Adampur seat was finalised moments before the expiry of nomination deadline today.

Also, uniquely, the FM extempore brought up Rs 1,40,980 cr GST collections of January. It was not part of her budget speech.

“This is the highest ever GST collection since the implementation of the regime,” the FM later explained saying the information was important.

Importantly all MPs from poll bound Punjab barring former minister Manish Tewari and Khadoor Saheb MP JS Gill, were absent, as were SP’s Mulayam and Akhilesh Yadav from election going UP.

The highlight of the presentation was PM Modi’s personal greetings to not just the FM (he went up to her desk to greet her for a “pro-people and progressive” budget) but also the opposition MPs.

The PM crossed over after the budget speech and shook hands with TMC’s Sudip Bandopadhyay and Sugata Roy, spoke to Farooq Abdullah to enquire about his health, mingled with young members, patted Congress’ K Suresh and RSP’s NK Premachandran on the shoulder, and walked up to the desk of leader of Congress in Lok Sabha Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury who looked hesitant to come to the PM who was greeting other leaders in the well of the house.

Rahul Gandhi was not there when the PM came over to the opposition side.

He was among the first MPs to leave post the budget presentation.