Faced with a barrage of criticism over the Budget not doing enough for the poor, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman today hit back at Congress leader Rahul Gandhi while replying to the discussion on Budget 2022-23 in the Rajya Sabha. Sitharaman mocked Rahul over his 2013 remark where he had said that ‘poverty is a state of mind’. Reacting to Rahul Gandhi’s criticism, the FM asked if that was the poverty she was supposed to address.
Sitharaman claimed that Budget 2022 brings stability to the economy and has measures to create jobs. Though she refrained from directly naming Rahul Gandhi, she referred to his 2013 remark to counter the criticism from Opposition leaders, including former finance minister P Chidambaram.
“What is the poor that you are talking about?” she asked. “Your former (Congress) president said that poverty does not mean scarcity of food, money or material things. If one possesses self-confidence, then one can overcome it. He said it’s a state of mind. I’ve not named the person but we know who it is,” said Sitharaman.
Though her remark did not go well with the opposition benches. Shiv Sena MP Priyanka Chaturvedi protested saying that the FM was mocking the poor. To this, Sitharaman replied, “I am not mocking the poor people. The person who had mocked the poor people, you are in alliance with his party.”
The finance minister also took strong exception to Congress MP Kapil Sibal’s remark that ‘India is not in Amrit Kaal but in Rahu Kaal since 2014’. Sitharaman said that ‘Rahu Kaal’ was when an ordinance brought by the Prime Minister (Manmohan Singh) was torn in front of the media, referring to the 2013 incident when Rahul Gandhi had torn an ordinance promulgated by then PM Manmohan Singh to save convicted legislators from disqualification.
“No wonder Congress party which is facing the ‘Rahul Kaal’ is getting 44 seats and remaining there and is not able to come out. Where Rahu Kaal is where the Congress is in power,” she said.