The Delhi editions of four leading English newspapers on Friday went gaga over finance minister Arun Jaitley’s #Budget2018 speech on Thursday.
From fancy illustrations to cartoons to new page designs – put together, the papers had everything to catch the reader’s attention.
The Hindu’s headline was “FARMER SUTRA” with the top strap reading: “In pre-election Budget, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley serves up a mix of populism and prudence.” Another story (right under a large illustration of Jaitley’s “farm-ed” face) was headlined: “A helping hand in times of health crises.”
The Times of India’s headline was “BUDGET NATYAM A POLL DANCE IN NINE RASAS” put out in black and red, in different font sizes. Each “natyam” or pose was accompanied by a caricature of Jaitley. A second headline read: “IT ALL ADDS UP TO 2019.” TOI went all out with all caps.
The Hindustan Times’ eye-grabbing headline read: “’18 GOING ON ’19”, and came with three straps. The top one read: “POLL POSITION Modi govt’s last full budget reaches out to farmers, rural workers, women, Dalits, small businesses.”
The Indian Express’ banner headline read: “Economics with Pollitics”. Other headlines included: “Rural poor is focus, cost is breach of fiscal target”, “10% market tax in name of helping real economy”, “Assurance on MSP but for govt, rural is more about infra than agri” and “5-lakh health cover for 10 cr poor, prescription awaited.”
Of the four leading dailies, The Indian Express saw clear politics in the FM’s Budget speech, while The Times of India pointed out how it all added up to the 2019 general elections.
Another paper that connected the Budget speech to the upcoming polls was Business Standard, which ran with the simple headline: “Pre-election budget”.
Coming out not-so-subtly about the purpose of the NDA government’s last full Budget, Mint’s headline read: “POLITICS, POLITICS, POLITICS.” The strap said: “The NDA government’s last full budget sets stage for upcoming electoral battles.”
Economic Times seemed to disagree, though. Running with the headline “FM prescribes Medicare for Bharat”, it stated: “Focus on Jobs, Labour Reforms & Health Sector.” Another headline read: “Short-Term Jitters Over Long-Term Tax”.
Coming to editorials in the papers, TOI’s editorial was a sharp critique of the budget. It said, “This is best described as an election Budget.” Running with the headline “Vision 2019, Seeing Little Beyond”, the strap in the piece read: “Arun Jaitley’s last full Budget was dominated by old ideas to deal with restive real India.” Further, the editorial clearly stated that in the Modi government’s last full Budget, “it had chosen to tilt heavily in favour of its political priorities.”
The editorial in The Indian Express stated: “The RIGHT FOCUS, A BLURRED VISION.” It said the government needs to be credited with “not compromising on fiscal prudence”, while at the same time pointed out that a “lack of recognition of global realities is visible in not cutting corporate taxes”.
The Hindustan Times’ lead read: “A budget for BJP and India” and it concluded stating that Jaitley’s “budget is exactly the kind of budget the BJP needs” in a year with eight state elections and the 2019 parliamentary polls.
The Hindu’s edit piece – “Promise and Delivery” – stated that the budget would be judged by whether it can bridge the gap. Taking after its lead story, the editorial said, “while prudence prevailed in the past four budgets, it was populism that prevailed in this one”.