Delhi Assembly Budget Session Kicks Off With ‘Kheer Ceremony’

New Delhi: The five-day budget session of Delhi Assembly began on Monday with a new ritual — a kheer ceremony with BJP functionaries explaining that "sweetness symbolises progress". Chief minister Rekha Gupta, who also holds the finance portfolio, will present on Tuesday the first budget of a BJP govt in Delhi in more than 27 years.
"The kheer ceremony is a ritual of auspiciousness rooted in Indian tradition," explained Gupta. "Today, by offering kheer to Lord Ram, we are ensuring that the state budget will result in Delhi's growth being as sweet as kheer. The budget will reflect our govt's people-oriented and development-focused vision."
Describing the presentation of the so-called Viksit Delhi Budget in the capital after 27 years, CM said this was momentous and akin to Lord Ram returning to Ayodhya after 14 years of exile. "Our govt is also returning after 27 years, and this budget will serve as the medium to script a new chapter in Delhi's development," said Gupta.
The primary objective of the new govt's budget exercise is to transform Delhi into a capital city with excellent infrastructure, better education, robust healthcare services, employment opportunities and a sustainable environment. Delhi govt plans to focus the budget for the 2025-26 fiscal towards women's economic empowerment, reliable utility provision, monsoon drainage solutions, pollution mitigation, cleaning of the Yamuna River, better educational system, healthcare enhancement, infrastructure development and to create employment, she said.
There was some furore in the assembly on Monday when AAP MLAs walked out of the first day of the budget session to protest speaker Vijender Gupta's decision to skip the name of one of its legislators during a discussion under Rule 280. Under the said rule, MLAs are allowed to raise issues related to their constituencies. However, when the speaker bypassed an AAP legislator, the party's other MLAs, led by leader of opposition Atishi, raised their voices in protest before walking out of the House.
The walkout evoked the speaker's concern and terming it "strategic disruption by AAP", Gupta warned the opposition members against forcing his hand. He also wryly remarked, "Perhaps the opposition doesn't like that soon the CAG report will be tabled in the assembly."
AAP later criticised the new govt for not keeping its electoral promises. Atishi said, "It wasn't AAP, but PM Narendra Modi who set March 8 as the date for depositing Rs 2,500 into the accounts of every woman in Delhi. The date has come and gone, but not a single rupee has been transferred." She added, "AAP will raise this issue in the assembly. Delhi's women do not want empty assurances. They want the Rs 2,500 that was promised to them."
MLA Sanjeev Jha also slammed BJP for backtracking on its promise. He said, "The PM himself assured that the BJP govt's first cabinet meeting would approve the Rs 2,500 scheme and that every woman would receive the amount before March 8. But on March 8, govt merely formed a committee. How many times has this committee met? What decisions has it taken? When will the money be disbursed?"