Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman and Leader of Opposition Rahul Gandhi
Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Tuesday hit back at Leader of Opposition and Congress MP Rahul Gandhi. Nirmala Sitharaman said that Halwa Ceremony is an important stage in the preparation of the budget. Criticizing it is an insult to the employees associated with it. Responding to the discussion on the budget in the Lok Sabha, Sitharaman said, ‘Halwa Ceremony has been going on since the time the printing press of the Finance Ministry used to be in Minto Road. In our country, there is a tradition of eating something sweet before doing any good work. Criticizing it is making fun of and insulting the employees involved in the preparation of the budget.’
There is not even one Dalit or tribal- Rahul Gandhi
Rahul Gandhi, while participating in the discussion on the budget on Monday, had claimed that 20 officials have worked on preparing the country’s budget, but only one of them is from the minority and one is from the OBC (Other Backward Classes) and none of them is a Dalit or a tribal. Along with this, Rahul, while referring to the halwa ritual before the budget, had said, ‘In this government, only 2-3 percent people are preparing halwa. The same number of people are eating halwa and the rest of India is not getting it.’
Employees can come out only after the budget- Nirmala
In response to this allegation, Sitharaman said, ‘After the Halwa ceremony, the employees associated with it do not come out until the budget is released. Earlier they had to spend 9 days and 8 nights in isolation, but now they have to stay away from everyone for 5 nights and 4 days. They are able to come out only after the budget. It is necessary to do this for the confidentiality of the budget.’
Rahul Gandhi’s statement is an insult to employees- Nirmala
Referring to the challenges associated with the preparation of this budget, he said, ‘Deputy Manager Kuldeep Sharma participated in the budget preparations despite the death of his father and did not come out. Similarly, Subhash did not come out even after the death of his son. Rahul Gandhi’s statement is an insult to such employees.’
Is there a halwa ceremony before the budget?
Let us tell you that Halwa Ceremony is considered to be the last stage of finalizing the budget document. This is the process of ‘isolating’ the officials and employees of the Finance Ministry involved in the preparation of the budget of the Central Government. In this way, they become completely isolated from the outside world for a few days. These officers and employees stay in the ‘basement’ of North Block (Finance Ministry office) till the budget is presented in the Parliament. Complete secrecy is maintained there. They come out only after the Finance Minister completes his budget speech in the Lok Sabha.
with language input
Latest India News