Nirmala Sitharaman hits back at Rahul Gandhi over ‘criminally destroying’ Tata remarks

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, on Wednesday, hit back at Leader of Opposition Rahul Gandhi over his remarks alleging that the Tata group was being “criminally destroyed”. Sitharaman accused him of politicising issues and casting baseless aspersions on Indian industry.

“Being the LoP, I suggest you refrain from politicising every issue. Also, casually labelling commercial and legal matters as criminal is unacceptable,” Sitharaman said in a post on X.

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Earlier today, Gandhi had alleged that Indian businesses were being treated as the “plaything” of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Home Minister Amit Shah. He further questioned the silence of business leaders over the matter.

Responding to Gandhi, Sitharaman said he had repeatedly “decried the successes of Indian industry and our entrepreneurs”. She questioned whether he was trying to “incite our business leaders to join you in spreading distrust and toxicity”.

“For decades, your party had smothered the spirit of the Indian entrepreneurs under the stifling ‘Licence-Quota Raj’ and inflicted poverty on crores of Indians,” she said.

Contrasting the Congress's approach with that of the Modi government, Sitharaman said the government valued Indian industry as a source of employment and economic growth. “Our policies have been tailored to enable enterprise, support industry and encourage investment,” she added.

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The finance minister also called for political parties, governments and institutions to support industry, strengthen farmers and secure the future of young people. Invoking the judiciary, Sitharaman said the Constitution ensured justice for all citizens and that courts were entrusted with upholding it. She also accused Gandhi, his party and previous Congress prime ministers of having “demeaned the judiciary”.

“So Rahul ji, refrain from seeing ghosts everywhere,” she said.