It was a new budget in new normal with tablet replacing bulky documents. Of course there was cloth bag but it had digital version of Budget documents.
Inside the Parliament, as Members were scattered in two chambers and various galleries, traditional arguments and counter arguments were missing. “We did not feel it as a budget speech but more like government policy statement,” an MP said. Another MP remarked that sitting in gallery did not give much opportunity to interrupt as opposition member.
While some MPs did tryptophan intervene on atleast two occasions, one when FM was talking about port privatisation and second time when agriculture was mentioned. Name or one industrial house was repeatedly mentioned when FM proposed privatisation of 7 ports. Some MP tried to talk about farm issue when proposals related with agriculture was being made, but they did not get much support from other members
Congress leader Rahul Gandhi was present in the house but it seemed he was more focused on getting nuances of the Budget. Other prominent Congress members were more engrossed during the speech.
Proposals for Tamil Nadu, West Bengal and Assam were received with lot of thumping especially from MPs of these States. These three States are going for election.