Nirmala Sitharaman advised Mahua Moitra to “should look in her backyard, and she will find Pappu in West Bengal.”
New Delhi: Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said Wednesday that Trinamool Congress member Mahua Moitra should explore her “own backyard” to find “Pappu,” responding to the Bengal MP’s remark from the day before. Ms. Sitharaman offered a lengthy and mocking answer in the Lok Sabha today in response to Ms. Moitra’s query of “macroeconomic fundamentals,” which was wrapped up in the “Who is Pappu now” jab. She focused on the Bengal government’s boycott of Central government programs.
“Honorable member Mahua Moitra has questioned who’s the Pappu, where’s the Pappu. She should look in her backyard, and she will find Pappu in West Bengal, “During the conversation about supplemental demands for grants, Ms. Sitharaman noted.
Observing that”All the macro-economic fundamentals are being questioned,” She continued, “So there is no doubt that where there are wonderful schemes to benefit common people, West Bengal sits over it, doesn’t distribute it. You don’t have to search anywhere else for Pappu”.
“But this one is far worse, “Maachis Kiske hath mein hai.” I want to leave this simple. Because she probably wanted to spice up her questions. In a democracy, people elect the leader. So don’t undermine the people by saying who’s given them the power,” Ms. Sitharaman said.
She then discussed the BJP’s most recent electoral triumph, which was more of a landslide than Mamata Banerjee, the leader of the Trinamool party, had achieved in Bengal the previous year.
“The BJP had a fantastic victory in Gujarat, and see how peacefully the new government took over. But, compare it to Bengal’s state elections — the question is how the matches were used there and by whom? When the matches were in our hands, we gave Ujjwala, Ujala, PM Kisan Yojana, and Swach Bharat Abhiyan. But, in your hands, the matches led to looting and rapes of our (BJP) workers,” Ms. Sitharaman added.
One of the most vehement lawmakers, Mahua Moitra, attacked the government yesterday over its claims of economic progress, pointing to its attempt to secure parliamentary approval for an additional 3 lakh crore as supplementary demands for the 2022–23 grants, primarily to fund a higher subsidy bill on items like fertilizer, food, and cooking gas.
describing the Center’s statements about affordability and the availability of necessities as ‘falsehoods”, Eight months later, in December, according to Ms. Moitra, everything became evident.”Falsehood flies and the truth comes limping after it,” She continued by referencing Jonathan Swift, a British author.
“This government and the ruling party coined the term Pappu. You use it to denigrate and signify extreme incompetence. But the statistics tell us who the actual Pappu is, “Ms. Moitra said.
She also contested the government’s claims of performance using the most recent statistics from the National Statistical Office (NSO).
The manufacturing sector, which is “still the biggest producer of jobs,” has dropped to 5.6% even though industrial output fell by 4% in October to a 26-month low.
Her argument was also strengthened by the BJP’s recent loss in Himachal Pradesh, where its leader, JP Nadda, is from. So she said, “Who is Pappu now?” once more, declaring that the leader of the ruling party could not retain control of his native state.
