‘Old political vehicles…sorry, polluting’: FM's slip-of-tongue in Budget speech

Union finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Wednesday left the Parliament in splits after her “political vs polluting” slip of tongue during the Union Budget 2023-24 speech.

Union finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Wednesday left the Parliament in splits after her “political vs polluting” slip of tongue during the Union Budget 2023-24 speech. Speaking about the vehicle replacement policy, Sitharaman used the word “political” instead of “polluting”. The finance minister, then, smiled and immediately corrected herself saying “replacing old polluting vehicles”. Meanwhile, the Parliamentarians broke into laughter with the Sansad TV showing a laughing Nitin Gadkari - Minister of Road Transport and Highways of India.

‘Old political vehicles…sorry, polluting’: FM's slip-of-tongue in Budget speech (PTI)

“Replacing the old political…sorry, I know…replacing old polluting vehicles…maybe applicable, right?… is an important part of greening our economy,” the FM joked.

She then continued her speech with a much deeper emphasis on the word “polluting”. “In furthering the vehicle scrapping policy mentioned in budget 2021-22, I've allocated adequate funds to scrap old vehicles of the central government. States will also be supported in replacing old vehicles and old state ambulances,” she added.

The finance minister presented the union budget on Wednesday for the fifth straight time. Her speech went on for about 1 hour, 25 minutes.

She outlined the seven priorities of Budget 2023 -calling them the 'Saptrishi'. They include - Inclusive development, reaching the last mile, infrastructure and investment, unleashing the potential, green growth, youth power, and financial sector. She also said that the budget is aimed at the economic empowerment of women and job generation for the youth.