Nirmala Sitharaman cuts short Budget speech, still the longest by any Union Finance Minister

Nirmala Sitharaman’s cabinet colleagues including Rajnath Singh was seen asking her to not push herself to complete the speech.

Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman was forced to cut short her budget speech — the longest in history — as she felt unwell. Sitharaman spoke for a record 160 minutes in Lok Sabha.

The Union Minister said she had only two pages left from her Budget speech but opted to discontinue as she appeared uneasy and was seen wiping sweat from her forehead. Sitharaman’s cabinet colleagues including Rajnath Singh was seen asking her to not push herself to complete the speech. Speaker Om Birla considered the remaining part of her speech as read.

This was the longest Budget speech by any finance minister. She broke her own record of a 2-hour-17-minute-long maiden Budget speech in July 2019.