Budget engine chugs on, despite a death, protests and a walkout

The government wanted to go ahead with the Budget; Opposition wanted to stall it, citing convention

A fog of uncertainty made its presence felt on the Union Budget for 2017-18 on Tuesday night, with the possibility of Member of Parliament E Ahamed’s death. Questions arose on whether the Budget should be postponed.

Finance ministry officials told journalists late on Tuesday that though Ahamed’s health was critical, he was under treatment, and it seemed that the Budget would go ahead as planned. But on Wednesday morning, doctors declared the Indian Union Muslim League (IUML) leader dead.

The government wanted to go ahead with the Budget; the Opposition wanted to stall it, citing convention.

The dispute made allies out of adversaries. As the Lok Sabha assembled on Wednesday morning, the Congress said it smelt a conspiracy. Communist Party of India (Marxist), or CPI(M), member Mohammed Salim stood outside, demanding the Budget be postponed as the House is adjourned when a sitting member dies.

His demand was a tad strange. CPI(M) and IUML, which usually wins 10-15 seats in the Kerala Assembly and is a force in the Malabar region, were political partners in the 1960s — but have been bitter rivals of late.

Finally, in a show of disapproval, all Lok Sabha MPs from Kerala, except Shashi Tharoor walked out as Finance Minister Arun Jaitley began reading the Budget speech.

The mood of the Treasury benches was somewhat deflated. At least twice, Power Minister Piyush Goyal turned to his party colleagues and mimed table-thumping, as if to tell them they needed to greet the Budget announcements with more enthusiasm. He thumped the table vigorously but colleagues just stared back impassively.

It was only when an announcement was made on the confiscation of economic offenders’ assets that the Treasury benches finally found their voice.

But, not everything was cheerful. Particularly gloomy were former railway minister, Sadananda Gowda and the current one, Suresh Prabhu, sitting side by side. As Jaitley explained why there was no Railway Budget this year, they looked positively depressed.

Minister of State for Social Justice and Empowerment Ramdas Athawale got up twice to say something, but was so incoherent that he was made to sit down by his neighbours.

Jayant Sinha, minister of state for civil aviation, finally smiled when he heard that foreign portfolio investors in Category I and II had been spared from the indirect transfer provisions.

In the Lok Sabha, there is now a “ladies’ row”, mostly occupied by women MPs of the Bharatiya Janata Party. Meenakshi Lekhi and Kirron Kher were in animated conversation when Jaitley announced an additional 10 per cent surcharge on those with an annual income of ~50 lakh and more.

There was animated discussion in the Opposition benches as well. Congress Vice-President Rahul Gandhi was in almost constant conversation with party colleagues, Jyotiraditya Scindia and Kamal Nath, sitting on either side of him.

Gandhi suppressed laughter to look serious when Jaitley flagged issues of bio-toilets in trains to dispose of solid waste.

Jaitley’s family, too, was present in the visitors’ gallery. His wife smiled as her husband read out lines of poems, punctuating his Budget speech, and Jaitley’s daughter, Sonali, cheered on.