In a manner of speaking

Jaitley mentioned the word cities 17 times, underscoring his Prime Minister’s vision of smart cities

At 16,473 words, Arun Jaitley’s Budget 2014 speech was 40 per cent longer than Pranab Mukherjee’s 2009 one. There was a bit of election hangover in Jaitley’s speech, as the word clouds of their respective speeches show. Jaitley used the word development 49 times, while Mukherjee used it 26 times.

At the same time, Jaitley’s Budget didn’t force bitter pills into the mouths of taxpayers. Jaitley used the word tax 53 times, whereas Mukherjee used it 91 times. Jaitley mentioned the word cities 17 times, underscoring his Prime Minister’s vision of smart cities, and Mukherjee not once. Contrary to what many expected, there were no big-bang announcements in this Budget. But there were a lot of small initiatives. Consider the phrase set up Jaitley used it 34 times, Mukherjee 9. Government , of course, continues to remain prominent today, as it did five years ago.

Arun JaitleyBudget 2014