Nirbala: Cong’s Adhir attacks Nirmala with sexist jibe
MUMBAI: Congress leader Adhir Ranjan Chowdhry on Monday stoked a major row in the Lok Sabha calling Finance Minister Sitharaman “nirbala” (without power), which immediately drew protest from BJP members in the House.
During her reply, Sitharaman did not directly refer to Chowdhury’s comment but concluded her speech by saying she still is Nirmala and “sabla” (empowered).
The exchange took place during the discussion on the Taxation Laws (Amendment) Bill, 2019. Minister of State for Finance Anurag Thakur objected to Chowdhury’s remark and demanded that the leader of the Congress group withdraw the statement and tender an apology in the House. This was backed by other BJP members as Speaker Om Birla ruled that any unparliamentary remark would be removed from the records.
During the same debate, Sitharaman spoke in Tamil while replying to a question, which took members by surprise, who demanded translation of her remarks.
Replying to criticism by CPI member K Subbarayan, who spoke in Tamil about the government’s economic policies, the minister replied to him in the same language.
Speaking at length, she emphatically said it was due to the policies of “Modi ayyah” (Modi sir) that poor people were getting benefits under various schemes including the direct transfer of money to farmers under the PM KIsan direct assistance scheme.
Meanwhile, amid attack by the Opposition over the state of the country’s economy, BJP MP Nishikant Dubey said in the Lok Sabha on Monday that Gross Domestic Product (GDP) has no relevance and it should not be treated as ‘Bible, Ramayan and Mahabharat’.
Participating in the discussion on the Taxation Law (Amendment) Bill and a statutory resolution disapproving the ordinance on the same legislation, Dubey said: “Sustainable economic development is more important than GDP”.