New Delhi:
Why does every finance minister pose with a leather briefcase before he reads his Budget Day speech inside Parliament? Well, the word ‘budget’ itself has the answer to this question. It originates from a French word 'bougette' which means a leather bag. The Budget documents are carried in a leather briefcase with different shades of red and brown. This tradition continues from the British era, who used a Gladstone box.
It was in the 18th century when Chancellor of the Exchequer or Britain's budget chief was first asked to 'open the budget' while presenting his annual statement. In 1860, the then British budget chief William E Gladstone, known for his long speeches, used a red suitcase with Queen's monogram embossed in gold to carry his bundle of papers.
In India, the tradition of posing with a bag before the Budget speech started when Independent India's first ever Budget announced by the then Finance Minister RK Shanmukham Chetty on November 26, 1947. At the day of presenting a 1998-99 budget, Finance minister Yashwant Sinha carried a special black leather bag that had straps and buckles on it. While the former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh held a simple black bag during the most famous Budget of 1991. However, Pranab Mukherjee sprung a surprise when he as the finance minister in the UPA came to Parliament with a red-coloured box which looked like a copy of what was used in Britain.
Finance Minister Arun Jaitley on the last two Budgets used briefcases that were similar to the one used by former finance minister P Chidambaram.
