HashtagPolitics | Oppn pans Nirmala Sitharaman over ‘rupee not sliding, dollar strengthening’ remark

The Finance Minister was responding to a question about “the challenges the rupee could face, and the measures taken to tackle the slippery slide” in light of “geopolitical tensions”

Last month too, Sitharaman had spoken about how the rupee had “held back very well” against the US dollar when compared to other currencies. (file)

Responding to a question about “the challenges the rupee could face, and the measures taken to tackle the slippery slide” in light of “geopolitical tensions”, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, who is currently in the United States to attend annual meetings of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank, on Saturday said in response to a question, “First of all, I would look at it not as rupee sliding but as dollar strengthening.”

She added, “All other currencies are performing against the strengthening dollar. I am not talking technicalities but it’s a matter of fact that India’s rupee has withstood this dollar’s rate going up, the exchange rate in favour of dollar strengthening is there, and I think the Indian rupee has performed much better than many other emerging market currencies.”

The Opposition reacted to the finance minister’s remarks with taunts while the BJP defended her. The rupee depreciated eight paise to close at 82.32 (provisional) against the US dollar on Friday. Last month too, Sitharaman had spoken about how the rupee had “held back very well” against the US dollar when compared to other currencies.

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Referring to the Global Hunger Index that was released on Saturday, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi said onn Twitter: “India ranks 107th out of 121 countries in hunger and malnutrition!

Now the Prime Minister and his ministers will say, ‘Hunger is not increasing in India, but people are not feeling hungry in other countries’.

For how long will RSS-BJP work to weaken India by misleading the public from reality?”

AAP MP Raghav Chadha shared a video of the finance minister’s latest comments and remarked, “My economics isn’t weak, yours is stronger.”

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The social media convener of the Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS), Y Satish Reddy, tweeted the video and said, “This reminded me of a school kid saying ‘I won’t look myself as a bad student but the syllabus was tough’.”

Shiv Sena MP Priyanka Chaturvedi said, “Rupee is not sliding, the dollar is strengthening, Says Finance Minister, India. Okay.”

Using the folded-hands “namaste” emoji, Congress national spokesperson Rohan Gupta said: “Rupee is not sliding, Dollar is strengthening.”

#WATCH | USA: Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharam responds to ANI question on the value of Indian Rupee dropping against the Dollar as geo-political tensions continue to rise, on measures being taken to tackle the slide pic.twitter.com/cOF33lSbAT

— ANI (@ANI) October 16, 2022

Former Odisha Congress president Niranjan Patnaik said, “When Rupee was at 50 during UPA govt, India’s economy was in deep crisis! Now Rupee is at 80 under the Modi govt, and it’s ‘AmritKaal’!”

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In a statement, NCP spokesperson Clyde Crasto said: “The ‘rupee not sliding, but dollar strengthening’ is an absurd statement made by Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman. Making such statements will not hide the failure of her government in taking care of our country’s economy.”

Defending Sitharaman, BJP national spokesperson Sambit Patra said there was a difference “between the rupee getting weaker” and the “dollar getting stronger”.

He added: “When Rupee gets weaker against all currencies like it happened during UPA in 2013 is called ‘Rupee getting weaker’.”

In another tweet, he wrote, “When most of the currencies are depreciating against $ due to fed rate hikes is called $ getting stronger that’s what happening right now. It should also be noted that ₹ has appreciated against most of the currencies therefore it shouldn’t be called as ₹ getting weaker. “

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Claiming that Sitharaman’s statement was being “taken out of context”, the BJP’s IT in-charge Amit Malviya said, “People who can’t do basic maths are commenting on rupee-dollar, which is far too complex for their tiny brains…She clearly said, ‘The Indian rupee has performed much better than many other emerging market currencies’.”

He added, “Weakening of Rupee was seen in 2009-14, during Congress’s inept rule, which had resulted in poor macro indicators, making India a fragile economy. Weak GDP growth, weak capital inflows, high double-digit inflation, high deficits, slowing exports and stalling reforms.”

Oniongate

This is not the first time the finance minister has been mocked and criticised for her statements and her actions. Speaking in the Lok Sabha in December 2019 about the low production and soaring price of onions, which were priced at Rs 100 at the time, an MP interrupted and asked Sitharaman if she ate onions. The minister replied she “has little to do with onions”. The Congress hit out at Sitharaman’s “insensitive” remarks and even compared her to the French queen “Marie Antoinette”.

The minister’s public upbraiding of a district collector during her visit to Telangana last month also sparked a controversy, with the TRS saying that “political histrionics on the street would demoralise hardworking IAS officers”.

(With inputs from PTI)