- Devyani Rana made her maiden speech in the Jammu and Kashmir Assembly on the budget
- She criticised reduced allocations for disaster management and education sectors
- Despite criticism, Rana received applause from both ruling and opposition members
It was her maiden speech in the Jammu and Kashmir Assembly. When BJP MLA Devyani Rana rose to speak on the Union territory's budget, members of the ruling National Conference (NC) were seen thumping their desks. They did the same at the conclusion of her speech, even as she criticised the budget presented by Chief Minister Omar Abdullah.
Before her speech, Speaker Abdul Rahim Rather asked members to encourage the first-time MLA who won the recent assembly by-election from the Nagrota assembly constituency after the death of her father, Davinder Singh Rana.
Rana was a longtime NC leader from Jammu and a close confidant of Omar Abdullah before he switched to the BJP a few years ago. Soon after the assembly elections in October 2024, he died.
Abdullah had termed his resignation from the NC as the biggest regret of his political career. After his death, the chief minister made an emotional speech in the assembly and recalled his close association with Rana.
In fact, during the by-elections, the NC put up a symbolic fight against Devyani Rana. Even Omar Abdullah didn't utter a single word against the BJP candidate during his brief election speech in Nagrota.
On Friday, Chief Minister Abdullah, who holds the finance portfolio, presented the 1.13 lakh crore budget in the Jammu and Kashmir assembly. A day later, the House listened to her 12-minute speech in rapt silence despite Devayani Rana tearing into the reduced allocation in key sectors. Armed with figures, she questioned the government for slashing allocations in education, disaster management, and other important sectors.
Rana told the house that allocation for disaster management and relief has been slashed to Rs 350.76 crore from Rs 719 crore, which is almost half of last year's allocation. Disaster mitigation should have been a key focus after massive damages to life and property in flash floods, landslides, and cloudbursts in the Jammu region, she said, but criticised that the government has chosen to slash the budget allocation for disaster management.
"This contraction comes in a year marked by unprecedented and incessant rainfall that devastated rural areas, especially in the Nagrota constituency," she said.
Dozens of people lost their lives, and hundreds of families were left homeless after landslides and flash floods in Jammu and Kashmir last August and September. Landslides hit the Vaishno Devi pilgrimage and Machail Yatra in Kishtwar, killing over 100 devotees.
Rana also called for an increase in funding for disaster management and relief. She criticised the government for reducing funding in other key areas, including education.
"On education, if we spend Rs 193 crore less than the previous budget, schools will be closed or merged. How will then a poor person's child progress?" she asked.
The young MLA was also critical of shortcomings in government policies on welfare schemes. For instance, she pointed out that the free bus service for disabled people did not have buses with disabled-friendly mechanisms.
Despite her scathing review of the budget and criticism of the Omar Abdullah government, Rana ended her speech with the thumping of desks and praises from both sides of the political aisle in the Jammu and Kashmir Assembly.
