Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman had already made headlines even before she presented her maiden Budget, by carrying a ‘bahi khaata’ (ledger) instead of the conventional briefcase.
The move, which experts say was a departure from colonial practices and embracing our own, showed that the first full-time woman finance minister brought her own style to Parliament.
Her maiden Budget speech was laced with relevant quotes and couplets, which Sitharaman used to buttress her arguments.
She started her speech with an Urdu couplet by poet Manzoor Hashmi, which says, “Yakeen ho to koi raasta nikalta hai, hawa ki oat bhi lekar charaag jalta hai", which roughly translates to ‘where there’s a will, there’s a way’. She mentioned this in context of making India Inc. a 5$ trillion economy in the next few years.
Confident that the Narendra Modi government will accomplish its goals, the finance minister quoted from Chanakya Niti Sutra, saying, “Karya purusha karena lakshyam sampadyate,” which means, “With determined human efforts, the task will surely be completed.”
The lawmakers responded with ecstatic desk-thumping.
While laying emphasis on various reforms for women empowerment, Sitharaman quoted from a letter that Swami Vivekananda had written to Swami Ramakrishnanda, in which he had said, “There is no chance for the welfare of the world unless the condition of women is improved. It is not possible for a bird to fly on one wing.”
The finance minister also cited the principles of 12th century reformer and Kannada poet in the Bhakti movement, Basava, reverentially known as Basaveshwara. “This government recognizes and follows the teachings of Lord Basaveshwara, in particular, the principles of Kayaka and Dasoha,” Sitharaman told the members of Parliament.
Basava was the propagator of principles such as Kayakave Kailasa, which means work is worship; and he is credited to be the first one to establish the concept of Kalyan Rajya or welfare state.
She even cited folk wisdom from Pura Nanooru, a Tamil Sangam Era work by Pisirandaiyaar. The verse, “Yannai pugundha nilam” was sung as an advice to King Pandian Arivudai Nambi.
While explaining the verse, she said, “A few mounds of rice from paddy that is harvested from a small piece of land would suffice for an elephant. But what if the elephant itself enters the field and starts eating? What it eats would be far less than what it would trample over!”
She used the analogy to draw the attention of the MPs to the NDA government’s sops for taxpayers. “We will be happy to collect only that much taxes that is necessary from the taxpayer. We will not trample on the taxpayer,” she added.
The 59-year-old lawmaker is the first full-time female finance minister and the second woman in the history of Independent India to present the Union Budget in Parliament. Former prime minister Indira Gandhi, who also held the finance portfolio, was the first woman to present the Budget.
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