Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman arrived at the parliament today to present her maiden budget. However, departing from the norm, she carried the budget documents in a red cloth with the national emblem, instead of the usual briefcase.
Reportedly, the red cloth is symbolic of the traditional ‘bahi-khatha‘ that many businessmen in India used to record finances.
Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, MoS Finance Anurag Thakur, Finance Secretary S C Garg, Chief Economic Advisor Krishnamurthy Subramanian and other officials outside Finance Ministry. #Budget2019 to be presented at 11 am in Lok Sabha today pic.twitter.com/oCyrMSNg7N
— ANI (@ANI) July 5, 2019
Chief Economic Advisor Krishnamurthy Subramanian on FM Nirmala Sitharaman keeping budget documents in four fold red cloth instead of a briefcase: It is in Indian tradition. It symbolizes our departure from slavery of Western thought. It is not a budget but a ‘bahi khata'(ledger) pic.twitter.com/ZhXdmnfbvl
— ANI (@ANI) July 5, 2019
However, people were left divided about what the gesture meant and took to Twitter to express their opinions:
No briefcase, just a bag, Nirmala Sitharaman breaks a Budget trend👌 https://t.co/RwOOvrWq0t
— Priyanka Sharma (@journopriyanka5) July 5, 2019
Bahi khata par swastik bhi hona chaiye, om bhi..roli, chawal bhi
— انو-Anu (@stylistanu) July 5, 2019
Fooling again with packaging?
What is inside is more important…
@nsitharaman ji ditches the black suitcase & comes with an Indian styles red colour bag with budget documents!
— îdéå $ïñgh • Sudeep Singh • Jobs in India • (@ideasingh) July 5, 2019
Bring a lady to high offices & you can see some welcome changes.
Something like what the businessmen in India have been using every deewali for new files 🙂#Budget2019 pic.twitter.com/tq0OcFaNqQ
Wow beautiful bahi khata!
— Certified Engineer (@Engihumor) July 5, 2019
General budget _ Nirmala jee replacing Iconic briefcase _ holding a Red cloth folder _ Bahi Khata _ Indian Traditional _ 💕💕 All d the best & congrats Mam .. expecting lots of Changes & more development.. #NirmalaSitharaman
— Giri.M.s (@GiriMs8) July 5, 2019
What are the new initiatives to take economy to the next level? This tokenism of bahi khata is regressive. If you had used a tablet even then it would have made sense. @nsitharaman @narendramodi
— Lutyens Journalist (@lutyens_hyena) July 5, 2019
#NirmalaSitharaman has broken the Budget tradition. The trademark leather briefcase 💼 is replaced by a Red Cloth for the first time with Satyamev Jayate emblem in gold! 😍 #BudgetForNewIndia #Budget2019 #financeminister pic.twitter.com/oj6h8H5sbq
— Sneha Kanchan:-) (@snehakanchan) July 5, 2019
Good and initiative idea, change is good after long years of Independence 👏👏👏👏👏👏
— Dr Manjeet Singh (@Manjeet441993) July 5, 2019
The 2019 Union Budget will be announced in Lok Sabha today, at 11 am.
