Thiruvananthapuram Congress MP Shashi Tharoor dismissed the thought with a hardly discernible shrug. He suggested to the pesky reporter that asking the people at the “bottom of the pyramid” would provide the answer, adding with a literary touch that when Sitharaman said she’ll be back in July, the “opposition benches smiled”. Nirmala Sitharaman and her mentor Prime Minister Narendra Modi face the 'Terminator' in a couple of months.

That said, Nirmala’s sixth budget was designed and drafted to inform the people of India where the Modi regime stood after a decade in power, i.e., outlining the Modi government’s record of the last 10 years, since the time Modi ruled India, his achievements and where they are leading India to? Thankfully, Sitharaman kept the sycophancy to the bare minimum and turned in a clinical performance.

There were no changes in taxation. Nirmala left both direct and indirect taxes unscathed. But tax benefits for startups, investments made by sovereign wealth, pension funds would be extended to March 2025 and the government will go out of its way to invest in the tourism sector, which immediately read as “Lakshadweep” to Modi supporters.

Apparently, after Maldives challenged Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s fragile vanity and after his snorkelling expedition in the coral waters of the archipelago, the Prime Minister is adamant in transforming the islands into a tourist paradise for all times to come, the island ecosystem be damned. Sitharaman promised significant investment in tourism infrastructure, which again requires the Modi regime to do a ‘Terminator’, though Shashi Tharoor might have his own interpretation.

Sitharaman believes otherwise. She says by giving undivided attention to Lakshadweep, the Modi government, on its July return, will further transform India's economy into a “developed economy”. Sitharaman’s trust and confidence in Prime Minister Narendra Modi is astoundingly touching. Her formula for turning India into a developed country is borrowed directly from Modi's: Focus on “poor, women, youth and farmers” and the world will become a better place for everybody.

The Finance Minister spoke of Modi’s welfare schemes for India’s 80 crore non-performing Indians and the brag of feeding that many Indians was said like it was a great Modi achievement. Six years of Nirmala budgets and it is still free boarding and lodging for 80 crore scrounging Indians in Modi’s India. Modi believes the urban Indian is in his pocket and so no tax reliefs for the salaried class. Nirmala Sitharaman assured taxpayers that their money was being put to good use, just keep paying the taxes, filing tax returns has been made much easier; it just takes 10 days instead of the earlier 90.

The fact is, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman and Prime Minister Narendra Modi have a good thing going for the BJP, and it is paying dividends, 100 percent “shudh” electoral dividends. The welfare schemes that Modi invented and ran, and Sitharaman’s ministry financed, were the lifeblood of the Modi regime’s two successive terms in power. Nirmala Sitharaman explains it with "the government is focused on more comprehensive GDP — governance, development, performance."

Therefore, bringing 250 million people out of poverty in the decade since 2014 falls easy from Sitharaman’s blood red “bahi-khaata”. But then, continuing to feed 80 crore “needy Indians” with free rations for 10 years speaks of poverty entrenched. The Rs 6000 per annum to farmers, the majority of whom are dirt poor and for whom the three farm laws were enacted and then junked, is another sign that poverty continues to have a stranglehold on ordinary Indians with shallow pockets despite Sitharaman’s allegedly uplifting budgets.

This one is “interim” and, therefore, Modi will be back with a thumping majority is an argument some Modi-bhakts are promoting. People, the common people, will rather believe Shashi Tharoor and his “bottom of the pyramid” rebuttal of Sitharaman’s interim budget.

As it is, there are questions to ask: Has the crop insurance scheme reached 40 million farmers? Has inflation moderated? Has economic growth picked up? Have tax reforms widened the tax base? Have tax collections shot up? Sitharaman says economic growth will be unprecedented under another Modi term and “profound changes” will take place. Sitharaman kept repeating “Viksit” again and again, so much so, she made it sound “commonplace”.

A developed India by 2047.A new scheme to strengthen the defence sector. Help the middle class to build their own houses. Build 20 million affordable houses in the next five years. Help self-help groups empower 1 crore women to become "Lakhpatididis". Work on keeping fiscal deficit within the required limit. The Modi government is okay with no changes in taxation. Nirmala Sitharaman made it sound like all it needs for a developed India by 2047 is turning Lakshadweep into a Maldives in the next five years. So vote for the BJP in April-May 2024 and Nirmala Sitharaman will be back with the full budget in July 2024. (IPA Service)