Modiji’s Government Not a Suitcase Government, Sitharaman’s Veiled Attack on Congress

Notably, Sitharaman did away with the tradition of carrying the budget papers to Parliament in a briefcase and instead brought them in a red folded cloth, in traditional style.

New Delhi: Making a veiled attack on Congress, Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Saturday connected her idea of carrying Budget documents wrapped in a red cloth instead of a briefcase with alleged corruption in the previous UPA government at the Centre.

“For Budget 2019, I did not carry a suitcase. We are not a suitcase-carrying government. A suitcase also denotes something else: suitcase-taking, suitcase-giving. Modiji’s government is not a suitcase government,” Sitharaman said while speaking at the International Business Conference of Nagarathar

Notably, Sitharaman did away with the tradition of carrying the budget papers to Parliament in a briefcase and instead brought them in a red folded cloth, in traditional style. “It was better we move out from British handhold. And I thought it was good enough to do something on our own. It was easier for me to carry also and very Indian,” she had said in the customary briefing post Budget presentation.

Commenting on the shift from a briefcase to bahi-khata, Chief Economic Advisor Krishnamurthy Subramanian had said that the government was following “Indian tradition”. “It is in Indian tradition. It symbolises our departure from slavery of Western thought. It is not a Budget, but a Bahi-Khata (ledger),” he added.