Halwa ceremony an 'emotional' issue, says Nirmala Sitharaman

'Why was the halwa ceremony not cancelled at that (UPA) time? You (Gandhi) had the remote control. How many SC, ST or OBC officers were there at the ceremony at that time,' the minister asked.

New Delhi: Hitting back at Lok Sabha LoP Rahul Gandhi for pointing at a picture from this year’s halwa ceremony for not having any Dalit or OBC faces, Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Tuesday said that the ceremony was an “emotional” issue for the officers working on the Union Budget.

Replying to the discussion on the Union Budget 2024 in the Lok Sabha, Sitharaman said, “Halwa ceremony is an emotional matter … it marks a sense of solidarity among the staff and officials of the finance ministry. How can you take it so lightly."

“Why was the halwa ceremony not cancelled at that (UPA) time? You (Gandhi) had the remote control. How many SC, ST or OBC officers were there at the ceremony at that time,” she asked.

During her reply, the finance minister also responded to the accusations from the opposition parties that she had neglected several other states to give precedence to Andhra Pradesh and Bihar in the Budget keeping in mind the BJP’s alliance partners. Sitharaman turned the focus on UPA era Budgets and pointed out how the names of several states were missing.

“The Budget speech of 2004-05 did not take the name of 17 states. Did money not go to those states? If they stopped the money, then they can raise this issue. 18 states weren’t named in 2005-06, 16 were not named in 2007-08, 26 states weren’t named in 2009-10 … The 2009-10 full Budget didn’t name 20 states,” Sitharaman said.

In the Budget, the minister had allocated Rs 15,000 crore to develop Andhra Pradesh’s new capital, Amaravati, and had set aside Rs 26,000 crore to build roads in Bihar. The opposition had said that Southern states and states like Maharashtra and Assam were not given their due. Sitharaman said that the Centre had set aside a “substantial financial support” of Rs 17,000 crore for Jammu and Kashmir.

Citing a research report by the State Bank of India, Sitharaman said that between 2014 and 2023, 12.5 crore jobs were created in India. “(The report) states that India created 12.5 crore jobs between 2014 and 2023 compared to only 2.9 crore during the 10 years of the UPA government. The unemployment rate has declined from 6% in 2017-18 to a low of 3.2% in 2022-23. Youth unemployment for the age group 15-29 years has declined sharply from 17.8% in 2017-18 to 10% in 2022-23,” the finance minister said.

Sitharaman said that expenditure of Modi government has “grown exponentially” to Rs 48 lakh crore in FY25. “In FY22, I promised that the government will bring the fiscal deficit below 4.5% by FY26. From Covid-era high, we have kept in touch with the projection and are complying to the target given by us. The deficit was 5.6% in 2023-24,” she said.

Taking another potshot at the Congress, Sitharaman said that inflation during the UPA years was almost in double digits between 2009-13. “PM Modi, inspite of Covid-19, planned the economy in such a way that our inflation did not affect it so badly. Inflation during NDA-I stood at 4.5%, NDA-II at 5.7% and both combined 5.1% – much less than the 8% during UPA,” Sitharaman said.

Accusing the Congress of “shedding crocodile tears”, Sitharaman said that the opposition is doing politics over farmers. “The national commission on farmers MS Swaminathan had recommended in 2006 minimum support price should be at 50% more than the weighted average cost of production. This was not accepted by the UPA government", she said.

“Allocation for Agriculture and allied sector was Rs 30,000 crore in 2013-14, now it is Rs 1.52 lakh crore – Rs 8,000 crore more than last year. Till now, the Modi government has disbursed more than Rs 3.2 lakh crore to over 11 crore farmers since the launch of the PM Kisan Scheme,” she added.

Seeking to take on Leader of Opposition Rahul Gandhi’s charge over the government neglecting Dalits and OBCs, Sitharaman said: “When an ordinary OBC chaiwala does administration well, the INDIA bloc has a problem. This won’t work anymore.”

She also said that the allocation for various social sectors has increased in comparison to last year’s budget. “The expenditure has grown exponentially to ₹ 48.21 lakh crore; it is projected to grow by 7.3% over 2023-24 and 8.5% over pre-actuals of FY24," she said.