Kolkata, February 24
Kolkata: When the going gets tough, the tough get going. Pushed into a corner by opposition MPs who called her regional, a feisty Mamata Banerjee delivered telling counterpunches and humour to ensure that she was the last one standing at the end of her two-hour marathon Railway Budget speech.
If former railway minister Lalu Prasad Yadav’s budget speech are remembered because of its entertaining quality then Banerjee’s oratory tickled the funny bone of parliamentarians and general public glued in front of the television sets. Unlike Lalu, Didi was serious yet her speech will be remembered for the liberal use of improvised Hindi and English laced with bits and pieces of her mother tongue - Bengali. Dressed in a white and green sari and her trademark rubber slippers it was her funny pronunciations laced with her seriousness that many found amusing.
The Railway Minister, who has a strong Bengali accent, also apologised to the House for her pronunciation. “My pronunciation will go wrong if I go fast.... I apologise for my pronunciation,” she said. Banerjee, who was interrupted several times during her speech by members alleging that she was ignoring their constituency, was heard shouting back – “Aap shaant ho ke baitho to dega” (if you sit silently, I will give you), “chillao mat” (don’t shout), “jitna marzi chillao” (shout as much as you want) and “mera jaan kha gaya sab” (they have pestered me so much).
While Speaker Meira Kumar asked the MPs to sit down and let Banerjee finish her presentation, the minister did her bit by frequently interrupting her speech to tell MPs to let her complete the job. “I’m also a human,” a frustrated Banerjee said at one point. And then carried on gamely, not even stopping for a sip of water.
As names of various places of West Bengal came up during her budget speech, the opposition attacked her for being Pro-Bengal. Even as Speaker Kumar continued to pacify the MPs saying “Baith jaiye….baith jaiye” (sit down, sit down), Banerjee stopped reading her speech and said “Ke re” (Who is it?) and tried to spot the MPs creating uproar.
Then looking at Lalu, who had criticised her last year for giving a pro-Bengal railway budget, she deliver her clincher. “One of the Karma Bhumi Express trains will go from Darbhanga to Mumbai” and then chuckled “Laluji kahan hai? (Where is Laluji?)
Congress president Sonia Gandhi, who is not known to show her emotions much, was enjoying the way Banerjee held fort for nearly two hours. So when Banerjee reprimanded a MP, saying, “If you don’t listen, I will cut it,” (cancel your constituency’s name from the list)”, making Gandhi clap in glee. Banerjee also pleased Rahul Gandhi by announcing setting up of a bottling plant in Amethi, leading to some noises in the House.
The Opposition MPs once again started shouting when Banerjee begun announcing the expansion plan of Kolkata Metro. The railway minister hit back by saying, “Karte raho…katre raho (Keep shouting).” Before moving on to the next announcement, Banerjee stopped and asked “Kyun chillata hai? (Why are you all shouting?)” Then resorted to colloquial Bengali, “Hath, arre dhat (Shoo! What the hell!).”
She was at her funny best while announcing the state of art skill development centre for railway workers in. Banerjee begun by saying that Beleghata would get one such centre and the house once again became restless. This time the minister tried to pacify the angry MPs and said, “Khaali Bolta Hain…..nahi hain, pehele thik se suno (You all talk too much. Ok I have not given anything to other states. First you all listen properly there is something for everyone).” She then announced that another Centre would be coming up in Cuttack. “Cuttack kahan hai?....Jabalpur kahan hai? (Where is Cuttack? Where is Jabalpur)?” after announcing trains for these places. And just as the MPs had stopped their murmur, she quickly named Coochbehar and Jalipaiguri as two other places where the centre would come up.
And did we forget to mention that the common man crept up in her speech every now and then as she fondly called them “peepul,” her favorite deviation for the word ‘people’.
