On Friday, Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman made fun of Congressman Rahul Gandhi's 2013 statement that poverty is a condition of mind and questioned whether this was the kind of poverty that she was meant to be addressing.
In response to the Rajya Sabha's debate on Budget 2022–2023, the finance minister stated that the budget includes steps to create jobs and stabilise the economy.
She cited a congressman's comments on poverty to refute the opposition leaders' critique of the budget.
"Please be clear, is this the poverty that you wanted me to address, the poverty of mind?" she responded.
In response to Priyanka Chaturvedi of the Shiv Sena objecting to her mockery of the impoverished, Sitharaman stated, “I am not mocking the poor people. The person who had mocked the poor people, you are in alliance with your party."
She sent Congress leaders to the dry cleaners for their remarks on poverty despite constant interruptions.
"What is the poor that you are talking about?," she asked.
"Your former (Congress) president said the 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.``
She said that the Congress leader had been quoted in the press and that the comment had been made before protests started.
Sitharaman claimed, with the use of a Tamil adage, that she never used a name but that everyone began to defend her. "If you want a rough translation of the Tamil proverb, it is -- during rainy seasons no one knows where the frog is, but you know where it is when it makes the croak-croak."
Senior Congressman Kapil Sibal's statement that "India is not in Amrit Kaal but in Rahu Kaal since 2014" infuriated Sitharaman. She referred to the 2013 episode involving Rahul Gandhi as "Rahu Kaal," which occurred when an ordinance proposed by the Prime Minister of their own party was torn in front of the media.
She answered, "That was the Rahu Kaal." Rahu Kaal is the source of G-23.
Sibal is one of the 23 Congress leaders who make up G-23, and they have expressed disapproval with the party's leadership approach.
"Senior leaders of the party are leaving the party. That is Rahu Kaal," she remarked.
The finance minister made fun of the Congress party by referencing occurrences against women in reference to Priyanka Gandhi's catchphrase, "Ladki hoon lad sakti hoon."
Sitharaman questioned, "Did the honourable member imply that all Raiva Sabha members of their time, including the former Prime Minister, were disconnected from the reality?" in response to accusations that she was not an elected member and hence was unaware of the ground realities.
