Social media on the Union Budget was definitely amusing. Try as they might, most BJP-Modi supporters could not find enough to be happy about as taxes went up, indexation was removed and so on. Even the stock market, their dear indicator and their reference that all is well in Modi-land, fell after the Budget was announced. Given that most national budgets do not get the same attention elsewhere in the world – government expenditure, income and debt – in India, it’s always been a spectator sport. With high profile commentators (like Nani Palkhivala), interpreters and since economic liberalisation introduced by Dr Manmohan Singh as Union finance minister in 1991, a boon for graphic artists and editors addicted to comic strips.
Let us also be honest: most budgets introduced by successive Modi governments since 2014, whether by the late Arun Jaitley or Nirmala Sitharaman, have been pretty dismal, uninspiring and lacking in both vision and thought.
But this one has upset the BJP’s core supporters the most. Social media yesterday was full of Bhakt meltdowns, many of them people who work in some capacity in money, finance, real estate, the share markets etc.
Or, it is possible that they’ve been upset for years and it is only the election results which have given them the courage to speak out? The loss of a few seats has changed India in so many ways…
As amusing as the anger was the reaction of the BJP’s IT cell which now had to attack its own people, its core supporters. Now that is not good PR, is all I can say. The small money people, the merchants, the brokers, these are the BJP’s most constant support base. Billionaires are fickle, they will sway with the wind. For all the flak that Mukesh Ambani faces today from non-BJP people, do not forget that his father Dhirubhai Ambani was a hardcore Congress supporter. So were the Birlas, the Bajajs and so on.
I know this is useless advice. The BJP IT cell’s main job is to protect Narednra Modi, and so what if it’s from the BJP’s own people.
I have even heard rumours that some TV anchors, like Sudhir Chaudhury on Aaj Tak have criticised this Budget.
How’s this for a headline, from the Times of India: “How not to create jobs, help allies”?
Or this, from the Hindustan Times: “FM disappoints investors, rewards (some) taxpayers”?
The Indian Express offers this: “Budget 2024: Modi 3.0, an economy in search of a plan”.
The details of the Budget are not my concern here. The upshot appears to be a post-election result budget – a bit of this and that, big money to the NDA allies who shore up the BJP’s numbers in Parliament, the TDP and JD (U) and according to the Congress Party, quite a bit borrowed from their manifesto. From a political point of view, this is a Budget which has tried to keep some people happy, pretend that it has some ideas about the state of the nation and widespread economic misery and also create some money for empty coffers while actually doing nothing.
The two funniest takes on social media are from businessman and TV personality Ashneer Grover: “Budget 2024: ‘Boring, Lifeless and Meaningless’
Instead of delivering this Budget they could have just said – “Iss baar man sa nahi kar raha – agli baar delh lenge kuch karna hai tho”.
Actually watching yet another Ambani wedding function over this – would’ve been more value and better use of time”.”
And influential Youtuber and entrepreneur Akshat Shrivastava: “The best career path in India (after today’s budget):
Rather than becoming an FnO trader, become a bridge/road contractor in Bihar.”
The only happy people appear to be one TV person who informed us all about Sitharaman’s sari and a newspaper journalist for the Hindu who felt that the Budget reflected political pragmatism. Both are well-known for their love for Modi, no matter what.
Ranjona Banerji is a senior journalist and commentator. She writes on MxMIndia on Tuesdays and Fridays. Her views here are personal.