Budget 2018: Jaitley seeks attention to fight disillusionment with promises

Mr Jaitley is particularly uncomfortable when he speaks Hindi, which he chose to do, or was asked to do, in this speech often

Thursday’s Union Budget began with an unusual intervention from the Lok Sabha Speaker. A parliamentarian (a BJP MP from Maharashtra) had passed away, Sumitra Mahajan said, but the House would have to continue its business. Meanwhile, two other dead BJP MPs and a dead BJP MLA, all from Rajasthan, also made an intervention, in a manner of speaking. The by-election results from Ajmer and Alwar came in at the same time as Arun Jaitley began speaking, and hung over the entire speech like some spectre from a Shakespearian tragedy. More about that later. Prannoy Roy, the journalist, said this was