Budget cleared amid exchange of sher-o-shayari

Everything can’t be included in the budget speech. Finance ministers of other states have praised the budget, and this budget will make the common man fearless.

Delhi government and the opposition exchanged Urdu couplets to spar on the last day of the Delhi Assembly budget session on Friday.

Leader of Opposition Vijender Gupta, while criticising the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government, said “Tu iss tarah se mere sath bewafai kar/ ki tere baad mujhe koi bewafa na lage (you ditch me in a way that after you, I don’t feel ditched by anyone else)”.

Responding to his comment, finance minister Manish Sisodia said, “Na jaane kiski duaon ka faiz hai mujhpar, mai dubta hun aur dariya uchal deta hai (don’t know who is praying for me, whenever I drown, waves throw me to the corner)”.

Amid this “sher-o-shayari” (recital), the Delhi assembly cleared the budget for 2017-18.

Gupta in his budget speech questioned the ‘outcome’ budget. He said despite his best efforts, he could not locate the quantifiable output and outcome indicators in the budget documents.

“The so-called outcome budget has no base and is destined to fail. Why have the mohalla sabhas not come into existence despite allocation of R 650 crore during the last two years? What happened to WiFi promised in the AAP’s elec- tion manifesto? Why has the scheme of CCTV cameras been abandoned?,” Gupta asked.

Gupta quoted figures of tax collection after demonetisation. He said tax collection of only Delhi and West Bengal had gone down while the other states had collected extra tax after the note ban.

Responding to his charge, Sisodia said not everything is mentioned in the budget speech.

“I would request Gupta ji to read the budget. We have allocated funds for WiFi and CCTV. Everything can’t be included in the budget speech. Finance ministers of other states have praised the budget, and this budget will make the common man fearless,” Sisodia said in the assembly.

Sisodia said that Gupta was misleading the public by quoting the wrong figures and was calculating them at his own convenience