Congress on Monday expressed "strong objections" to Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman's comments in Parliament that some people are "jealous" of the country's economic growth, saying India is a democratic nation and every citizen has a right to question the government.
Participating in the discussion on the supplementary demands for grants in the Lok Sabha, Congress member K Suresh said "nobody is jealous about India's progress". "Every single Indian has the right to question...It is called democracy. People rights are supreme...We are still living in a democracy," he said.
Earlier in the day, replying to a question, Sitharaman said it is regrettable that when Indian economy is doing well and is growing at a faster rate, some people are "jealous" over it. Suresh said the finance minister is stating that Indian economy is the fastest growing and if this is the case, then "we are not jealous, but we are worried".
He alleged that the government is not able to help the working class who was hit hard by the Covid pandemic. Small and medium businesses are suffering due to demonetisation, implementation of Goods and Services Tax (GST) and Covid pandemic, he said, adding the government has not done anything to address their issues. Citing different data and growth projections, he said: "We are not jealous, we are worried."
(With PTI inputs)
