Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Wednesday came under fierce attack from the Congress and Twitterati over her remarks that slowdown in auto sectors was due to the change in mindset of millennials, who, she said, now prefer taxi aggregators like Ola and Uber instead of owning their own vehicles. The BJP as well as Transport Minister Nitin Gadkari tried to defend the Finance Minister.
Taking a jibe at Sitharaman, senior Congress leader Abhishek Singhvi said the Finance Minister blamed everyone but the BJP’s handling of the economy. “Yes. That’s great. Blame the voters. Blame everyone but BJP’s handling of the economy Mrs Finance Minister,” Singhvi tweeted.
Singhvi questioned how the economy will cross 5 trillion dollars in view of the prevailing circumstances.
“Whatever good has happened has been done by us (Modinomics). Whatever bad has happened has been done by others (Nirmalanomics),” he said in another tweet.
The Congress also attacked the Government over a media report claiming that nearly `14 lakh investor wealth has been wiped off in the share market in first 100 days of the Modi Government's second term.
Former Finance Minister P Chidambaram too expressed concern over the state of economy and questioned the Government on its plan to get the country out of this "decline and gloom". Chidambaram is in judicial custody in Tihar Jail for alleged corruption cases and has asked his family to post a message from him on Twitter.
"I am deeply concerned about the economy. The poor are the worst affected. Lower, fewer jobs, less trade and lower investment affect the poor and the middle class. Where is the plan to get the country out of this decline and gloom," Chidambaram asked on his Twitter account.
Chidambaram on Monday asked his family to post a message from him on Twitter. He urged authorities not to arrest officers who were involved in giving clearances to INX Media when he was Finance Minister, saying none of them done anything wrong.
Twitteratis were also unforgiving in their attack on Nirmala under the hashtag #BoycottMillennials.
Some of the tweets were as follow:
"Oxygen crisis will occur because millennial inhale more oxygen in the morning."
"Tourism is down because people are seeing photos and videos of places online."
"Aviation industry is facing crisis because millennials prefer flying in PUBG plane"
"Computer sales are down as @nsitharaman is using Bahi Khata for Accounts"
Coming to the rescue of the Government, BJP vice-president Baijayant Panda said emergence of cab services did impact the automobile sector but argued some new entrants in the auto sectors are doing very well even though there is a slowdown for some established brands.
Deflecting the attack against economic slowdown, the BJP leader said Congress was in no position to criticise economy under the present dispensation. He said UPA-I received a very health economy from the Vajpayee era but worsened it on account of its "mismanagement".
He said many sectors including the IT are doing very well adding that Amazon has opened centre giving jobs to 15,000 people. Panda attributed external factors like global slowdown impacting the Indian economy.
Minister of Road Transport and Highways Nitin Gadkari attributed slowdown in the automobile sector to many reasons including the emergence of private cabs. He said Finance Minister's statement on the slowdown in the auto sector contributed by Ola and Uber was misinterpreted.
