Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman today singled out Rahul Gandhi in Lok Sabha for a stinging attack, terming him a “doomsday man for India.”
“Who are our cronies? Our cronies are the common ‘janta’ (people) of this country,” Sitharaman said in the Lok Sabha, ahead of her reply to budget-related questions.
“Where are the cronies? They’re hiding probably in the shadow of that party which has been rejected by the people (a reference to the Congress). The shadows who were invited to even develop a port… they were invited. No open tenders, no global tenders,” she added.
“… these two tendencies of the Congress… makes it clear their belief in a democratic system is finished… he (Rahul Gandhi) is probably becoming a doomsday man for India,” she added.
The finance minister didn’t leave Gandhi on the farmers’ issue too.
“I wanted to know from the Congress why it took a U-turn on the farm laws but no reply came,” she said, adding Congress governments in Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh did not waive farm loans, as promised in their manifestos but Gandhi won’t answer it.
“Have APMCs (mandis) been closed after the introduction of the Farmers Act? He (Mr Gandhi) was speaking like they had been… They (the new laws) are also helping improve the condition of APMCs. He (Mr Gandhi) is insulting everyone… whether President, Prime Minister or Speaker… constantly lying and insulting the country,” Sitharaman said in anger.
Then it was Gandhi’s “hum do, hammer do” remark against the BJP government.
“It would have been nice if he (Mr Gandhi) who talked about “hum do hamhare do” also talked about returning damaads returning land.. but didn’t say anything about this,” she said, with a clear reference to Robert Vadra, son-in-law of Congress chief Sonia Gandhi.
The PM Street Vendors’Atmanirbhar Nidhi (PM SVANidhi)—collateral-free loans to street vendors—has come into pointed attack as helping the cronies.
“The PM SVANidhi Yojana, for those who constantly accuse us of dealing with cronies, doesn’t go to cronies. Damaads get land in states which are governed by some parties – Rajasthan, Haryana once upon a time,” Sitharaman said.
