Nirmala Sitharaman needs composure to understand truth, says DMK

CHENNAI: The DMK on Saturday lashed out at Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitaraman for her harangue in the Parliament on the inflation issue and said that the Union Minister lacks composure to understand the truth.

Penning a highly-critical editorial in the party mouthpiece ‘Murasoli’ against Ms Sitharaman’s animated Lok Sabha speech during a debate on inflation, the DMK said, “Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman first needs composure. Funds can be sourced later. Only if she gains composure, will she understand the financial position of the BJP regime. Instead, if she continues to be agitated, she will not realise the truth.”

Wondering if she could keep mum for not liking the speech of DMK’s Kanimozhi Karunanidhi in the Parliament, the DMK editorial took exception to Sitharaman’s “Indian economy is good” statement and said, “She says GST collection is good. If people are paying their taxes properly, it means they are tolerating you. It does not mean the Indian economy is doing well.”

Likening the spurt in GST collection to more people tolerating and taking NEET tests, the ruling DMK said, “Strength of Indian economy and tax remittance are different issues. They claim to have collected more taxes from Tamil Nadu. Does she imply that all industrialists in TN have accepted the GST figures.” Referring to the recent agitation of rice mill owners, including those in BJP ruled Karnataka and UP, the DMK claimed a 30% hike in rice price across the country and said, “If we ask this, Nirmala Sitharaman says final rites have been exempted from GST. The statement explains her appointment as Union Finance Minister. Nirmala has been appointed for shamelessly doing whatever she has been asked to do.”

Remarking that the minister’s statement implies that those dead are fortunate and the living one’s are sinners, the Murasoli editorial said, “Finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman lost temperament to the extent of saying your Tamil Nadu. Why are you so agitated by our Tamil Nadu?” Does it not demonstrate that people speaking in Tamil are not Tamils? The poor finance minister does not know what happened in Tamil Nadu during the last year.” Asserting that TN had slashed petrol prices much before the union government did, Murasoli cited Telangana CM K Chandrasekhar Rao’s statement on petrol price hike and said, “Nirmala should reduce tax on petrol. Learn to answer the queries posed to you. Do not blame others instead. This is the first step of losing composure.”

“Parliament is a forum for debating. Questions will be posed. Answers must be given. This is not a chorus to think that no one should raise questions, ” the DMK concluded.