The desultory discussion on the Finance Bill in the Lok Sabha perked up when Bollywood star and Samajwadi Party MP Raj Babbar took the mike and mouthed what some termed ‘‘filmi dialogue’’ to describe the impact of the Budget on petty shopkeepers, traders, weavers and farmers.Rephrasing a line from an old Hindi song, he said: ‘‘Pathar se na maro tumhare diwanon ko (don’t hit your admirers with stones)’’ — his way of urging the Finance Minister not to impose VAT on small shopkeepers who have always been supporters of the BJP. He also lashed out at the Govt’s pro-MNC policies and asked the government to treat cinema as a ‘‘backward industry’’ and give special incentives.To this, MoS for Commerce Rajiv Pratap Rudy commended Babbar’s performance and said he deserved an incentive. Throughout Babbar’s speech, Rudy kept teasing him about being an actor at sea in the absence of his ‘‘director’’ Mulayam Singh Yadav, and ‘‘producer’’ Amar Singh.
