Nirmala Sitharaman calls for lessons to tackle stress, Congress terms it ‘victim-blaming’

Anna Sebastian Perayil, 26, a CA from Kerala, died four months into her job at EY in Pune. Her mother in a letter to EY India chairman had alleged that her daughter had died due to “work pressure and long work hours”, sparking a nationwide debate.

During an event at a private medical college on Saturday, news agency PTI quoted Sitharaman saying: “…was discussing an issue that is in the news for the past two days…a woman who had studied CA well, unable to cope with the work pressure, two-three days ago we received a news — she died unable to cope up with the pressure.” The FM, however, didn’t name the employee or her the company she worked for.

Educational institutions must also teach certain things that are taught in the family, she said. “Educational institutions should bring in divinity and spirituality. Only then will our children get the inner strength, it will help in their progress and that of the country. That is my strong belief.”

Congress general secretary (Organisation), K C Venugopal hit out at Sitharaman. “The ruling regime and the Finance Minister can only see the pain of corporate giants like Adani and Ambani, not the pain of the hardworking and toiling young generation where freshers like Anna are exploited by the greedy corporate system… It is downright cruel on the part of the FM to blame Anna and her family for suggesting that she should have learnt stress management at home. This kind of victim-blaming is despicable and no words can convey the anger and disgust one feels because of such statements.”