Prime Minister Narendra Modi may believe that the Railway Budget will play a key role in the country’s rejuvenation, but when it comes to Railway Minister Suresh Prabhu’s second Budget speech, members in the Lok Sabha seemed miles away from looking or feeling rejuvenated.
That’s because it was a staid presentation, read out at high speed, much like last year, when an alert netizen clocked Prabhu at 133 words per minute.
Over the years, Railway Ministers, especially Mamata Banerjee and Lalu Prasad, sought to break the tedium of the speeches by liberally quoting couplets.
Prabhu is a chartered accountant, not a traditional politician given to lofty rhetoric; and to give him credit, even he made an effort to sprinkle some poetry in his jargon-filled speech.
He quoted former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee (“ Vipadayein aati hain aayein, hum na rukenge, hum na rukenge” ; obstacles may come in waves, but we will not stop) and the late Hindi poet Harivanshrai Bachchan. But even these failed to nudge a couple of dozing MPs to wakefulness. The only time some amused murmurs were heard was when Prabhu mentioned the provision of ‘baby food’ on some trains. Only when Prabhu applied a sudden brake at the end of his speech did the Opposition spring to life. “No figures. No figures,” some members shouted.
Invokes Buddha too Before concluding his speech, Prabhu quoted the Buddha to say that whenever one contemplates a journey, there are two mistakes one may make: not starting, and not going all the way.
“We have already started the journey and I intend to go all the way and we will not rest till we take Bharatiya Rail to a destination called samridhi or success,” the Minister said.
Parliamentary business and Budget speeches are, of course, solemn proceedings, but Lalu Prasad and Banerjee managed to make them enlivening as well. Other than the couplets and laughter, there used to be the occasional interjections, protests and heckling.
Prasad, in particular, was considered an artful Budget-speechmaker; on occasions, he even made up his own couplets, such as in 2007-08, when he spoke about his vision: “ Ho izaazat to karun bayan dil apna, sanjo rakkha hai maine rail ka ek sapna” (with your permission, I will tell you of my dream for the Railways) .
In 2008-09, Prasad once again waxed lyrical: “ Goal par goal daag rahe hain hum har match mein, Desh ka bachha bachha bolay, Chak de Railway ” (We keep scoring goals in every match, delighting every child in the country)
Banerjee, ever sensitive to criticism, spouted an Urdu couplet in 2011-12, which set the tone for her presentation: “ Hum aah bhee karte hain toh ho jaate hain badnaam, Woh katl bhee karte hain toh charcha nahi hota ” (If I so much as sigh, I am bad-mouthed; but even if they commit murder, no one notices).