The Opposition was the first to arrive in the Lok Sabha for the millennium'sfirst budget speech. Indian National Congress leader Santosh Mohan Dev washurling banter at party colleague Priya Ranjan Das Munshi across theOpposition benches as early as a quarter past 10 in the morning.The public galleries, which had remained stark all through the PrimeMinister's impassioned speech on Gujarat on Tuesday, resembled the dresscircle at a box office premiere by forenoon. Obviously, the opinion pollsthat had written off the budget as a non-event had not quite caught the moodof the times.Only the diplomats' gallery remained conspicuously empty for the most part.
Notwithstanding all that Mr Madhav Rao Scindia said into the galaxy oftelevision cameras afterwards, about the budget being devised to suit WorldTrade Organisation (WTO) norms, the foreign hands and heads did not showmuch enthusiasm.
The Union Budget mattered enough though to prompt politicians (known togrudgingly sit through their "roster duties" in Parliament) to turn up intheir Sunday attire for the FM's speech. Black suits (particularly onbenches favoured by the Trinamool Congress) competed with bright silks.
Women members had discarded the pastel cottons worn earlier in the week (indeference to the earthquake victims possibly) in favour of tawny silks.
Sonia Gandhi remained staid in white and Samajwadi Janata Party leaderChandra Shekhar had on his regular black waistcoat. Sharad Pawar, next tohim, was also in spotless white.
Everybody else was in party gear. Bright purple silk Pathan suits, greensilk kurtas and gold embroidered jackets flashed across the floor.
In the Rajya Sabha gallery, RPG Enterprises chairman Rama Prasad Goenka satwedged between fellow members of the Upper House. Other Rajya Sabha memberswere perched uncomfortably on the carpeted steps, unable to find space onthe benches. Only early birds like Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) representativeDr Dhamma Viriyo managed to get a ringside view of the budget.
"This is an anti-people budget," Dr Viriyo told this scribe vehemently inthe portico of the House afterwards. "This budget is for big business, ithas nothing for farmers. We will ask for modification of the Bill." In theHouse though, Dr Viriyo had remained perfectly still in his Buddhist monk'srobes.
The cordial floor-crossing to exchange pleasantries across warring partydivides must have left its impact on the proceedings of the House. For theorchestrated sloganeering that began as the FM rose to make his speech,petered out quickly. Basudev Acharya of the Party time in Parliament HallCPI(M) did spring to his feet (in a parrot green shirt) to shout down theproposal to amend the Industrial Disputes Act and the Contract Labour Act.
Speaker G M C Balayogi managed to shush him into silence though. Financeminister Yashwant Sinha's cryptic speech, interspersed with dry humour, sawthe thumping of desks (over a personal insurance cover for farmers and bankloans for students) at the Treasury benches and mutterings (over theenhanced foreign equity holding allowed to foreign institutional investorsand scrapping of the Banking Services Recruitment Board) in the Oppositionbenches.
Samajwadi Party leader Mulayam Singh Yadav (who shared a bench with MrSomenath Chatterjee of the CPI-M) jumped up with feeling to demand whatwould become of potatoes ("Aaloo ka kya karenge?") when Mr Sinha announcedan excise duty exemption for fruit and vegetable preserves. The FM riposted,"Aaloo ka chokha banayenge (We will make a mash of it)".
Perhaps the shadow of the devastation in Gujarat and the aftermath of thePM's speech in the House (defending government initiatives) lingered. "Ihave no disagreement with the budget," said Mr Yerrannaidu of the TeluguDesam Party (TDP), a ruling party ally, but so did practically everyoneelse.
"What was there in the budget anyway?" asked Mr Santosh Mohan Dev irritably,confronted on his way to his car. He added as an afterthought that theCongress Party would seek a vote on it. Nearby, Mr Scindia could be heardtelling TV cameras that the "budget lacked direction". At a distance,another Congressman, A B A Ghani Khan Choudhury, was telling Doordarshanthat he supported the budget. Inside the Lok Sabha and away from pryingcameras, Renuka Chowdhury (also of the INC) was congratulating Mr YashwantSinha on a good budget. ("Are you happy?" she hollered up at the Pressgallery.)
Politics is perhaps losing its punch, or maybe, there is too much work to bedone.
Copyright © 2001 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.
