‘Meri taraf mat dekhiye…’: Hilarious memes flood social media after Nirmala Sitharaman’s Budget 2026 speech

As Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman introduced Budget 2026 in Parliament, one thing didn’t just happen on social media platforms – it exploded. Thousands of jokes, memes and comments filled social media apps X (formerly Twitter), Instagram and WhatsApp.

With memes ranging from pun jokes to movie dialogues, Union Budget 2026 quotes turned into dank memes that have been making everyone crack up online.

“When Sitharaman said…” Created Viral Meme Templates

Throughout FM Sitharaman’s speech and presentation on Budget 2026, it was her expressions, her tone, and famous eyebrow raises that stole the internet’s attention. Meme pages quickly created image macros and GIFs of Sitharaman reacting to popular jokes with text overlays like:

“When Sitharaman says this will help boost the economy…”

“When you realize tax cuts in budget 2026”

“When you realize Pay Commission Increases”

Other internet users reuploaded the meme templates with photos of their friends, animations and characters like Peddireddi Rama Rao from RRR and Shah Rukh Khan from Pathaan.

Budget Memes – A thread

Nirmala Sitharaman to Middle Class people pic.twitter.com/XOl1QDWCOO

— Phunsuk Wangdu (@Phunsukwangduji) February 1, 2025

 Budget Proposals Earn Creative Punny Memes

The funniest memes came from users sharing their thoughts about new tax brackets, exemptions, and financial proposals. Users made jokes about “tax tiers” sounding like traffic lights and photos of graph trends with “roller coaster” meme text.

Government to tax paying middle class during every budget #Budget2025 pic.twitter.com/lkbFrf4wiD

— Finance Memes (@Qid_Memez) February 1, 2025

Another popular meme featured a civil servant with a proud smile copied over with the text, “when you announce a new tax rebate but include 20 new forms to fill out.” That meme meme alone reached thousands of likes and shares.

Kannada Memes Pun At Budget 2026; Bollywood Dialogues Join In

Translation wasn’t much of a barrier when it came to budget memes. The minute memes began to trend in English, regional content creators translated pop culture references to their language and region.

Kannada food memes roasted the budget’s meal price inflation, while Mumbai food memes dragged vegetables prices. Marathi memes brought the budget humour to new heights with relatable Pune local jokes.

While the Hindi memes captioned popular Bollywood dialogues on the budget:

“Budget 2026 – ajab milega tujhko maja maana na…”
“Budget 2026 – picture abhi baaki hai mere dost!”

Instagram Reels Users Create Impressions of Sitharaman

Instagram reels became home to many creative take jokes. While some users meme’d their Budget takes to popular audio clips, others stood in front of the camera delivering their own budget speech impressions with captions like, “Budget or Film script re-edit?”

Actors and Comedians Jumped On The Bandwagon Too

From film celebrities making their own Budget reaction reels to comedic takes from some of Instagram’s biggest comedy page admins, it seemed everyone wanted to jump on the bandwagon.

The popularity of these memes encouraged more users to respond with their own creative takes. Many users madeduet videos with the celebrity Instagram Reels or created reaction memes.

Budget Memes Have Us In Stoic Laughter

While Budget 2026 addresses employment, GDP, economy and much more, all people saw was memes. Social media users browsed these humorous takes to cope with the stress of another work day, or took a mid-day break to laugh at jokes alongside their friends and family.

People replayed budget memes to their friends at twice the rate they shared any substantial news. After all, who can resist a good budget meme?