Known for her middle class simplicity and amiable personality, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Wednesday provoked angry protest from opposition members after she said that she felt like a ‘class teacher’ vis-a-vis the presence and conduct of members.
”Even though I feel like a class teacher, I will be happy to receive members in my room in Parliament (for any further clarification) with due respect,” Sitharaman remarked in the House after she has made a spirited reply in the House on the marathon round of debate on the Budget.
In effect, Finance minister was responding to charges from opposition members that among other discrepancies — two different GDP figures were presented in her Budget and in the Economic Survey presented a day earlier on July 4.
Leader of Congress in Lok Sabha Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury, who had called the Budget disappointing, objected to Finance Minister’s use of the word ‘teacher’ and remarked: ”We will ask for clarification if we feel any doubts, listening intently does not mean that we can be misled.”
The Finance Minister, however, maintained – ”Both the projections are consistent with each other as each of them project the nominal GDP of Rs 211,607 crore for the year 2019-20.”
