The aam aadmi’s guide to Budget day

The countdown to the Budget has entered its final phase. On February 1, finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman will present the last full Budget of this government’s term to Parliament. So, this is not the time to give her any more unsolicited advice or present her with yet another Budget wish list. By now, the Budget is all but done and dusted, the i’s dotted and the t’s, crossed.

Mandatory quotes have, doubtless, also been chosen carefully. Unlike in her last Budget speech, where she contended herself with just a solitary quote from the Mahabharat’s Shanti Parva, this time round, when there are as many as nine states — Rajasthan, Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh, Karnataka, Telangana, Tripura, Meghalaya, Nagaland and Mizoram — heading for elections, she is unlikely to take any chances. So, expect a smattering of quotes from Basveshwara (Karnataka), Vallabhacharya (Chhattisgarh), Atukuri Molla (Telangana), Dadu Dayal (Rajasthan) et al.