JNU alumni and Finance Minister, Nirmala Sitharaman’s first Budget was a break from tradition, but only to take you back to tradition. She knows how to break barriers, generate headlines and coin catchphrases.
Sample this: Sitharaman came up with the phrase “Naari tu Narayani” to emphasise the importance of women in society and economy.
A confident orator, Sitharaman’s Budget speech was sprinkled with couplets in Tamil and Urdu, as well as references to mythology and popular philosophers like Basveshwara, as she sought to drive home the important messages of the Narendra Modi government.
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She recited a Tamil verse authored by poet Pisirandaiyaar and sung as advice to King Pandian Arivudai Nambi to highlight the importance of citizens voluntarily paying taxes.
The finance minister was all about humility when she asked her fellow parliamentarians to pardon her Urdu pronunciations while reading out a couplet.
Sitharaman also made many departures from tradition. For starters, she discarded the famous briefcase on Budget morning. She carried the documents from the finance ministry in a folded red cloth ‘bahi khata’ with an Ashoka chakra pin.
Chief Economic Adviser K.V. Subramanian told ANI that it symbolised “our departure from the slavery of Western thought. It is not a budget but a bahi-khata (ledger)”.
Clearly, Sitharaman’s move will make it difficult for her successors to revert to a briefcase.
Also read: Why Nirmala Sitharaman renouncing budget briefcase for ‘bahi-khata’ is significant
The finance minister made a significant change in the content of the Budget speech as well. She did not mention the fiscal deficit numbers in her speech. Fiscal deficit numbers have always found mention in Budget speeches over the years. The lack of mention is despite the fact that the government did not report any fiscal slippage and instead managed to marginally lower its fiscal deficit target to 3.3 per cent of the GDP.
Many economists have expressed concerns on how the Modi government will manage to stick to its fiscal deficit target at a time when tax revenues are slowing down due to a growth slowdown.
The budget tried to maintain balance and please foreign investors while keeping the traditional voter base of the BJP happy.
Sitharaman completed her Masters from the Centre of Economic Studies and Planning (CESP) in JNU and has an MPhil in International Studies from the same university. She did her graduation from Tamil Nadu.
Also read: Freethought, politics & love: Charting Nirmala Sitharaman & S Jaishankar’s JNU days
Prior to joining the Modi government in its first term as a junior minister, Sitharaman was the national spokesperson of her party. As the defence minister during the Rafale controversy, Sitharaman proved her mettle by holding her own in intense debates.
She also maintained her composure and handled all questions in the post-Budget press conference with aplomb.
In the months to come, Sitharaman’s skills will be tested as the Modi government battles to put India back into the high growth trajectory to achieve its target of a $5 trillion economy by 2024-25.