Quotes and garland of vegetables: A look at inflation debate in Rajya Sabha
India Today
The Centre and the Opposition locked horns in Rajya Sabha during a five-hour-long debate on inflation and the state of economy.
The Centre and the Opposition locked horns in Rajya Sabha during a five-hour-long debate on inflation and state of economy. The debate included sharp attacks from Opposition benches and point-by-point rebuttal by Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman.
The high point of the discussion was the shrill exchange between Finance minister Nirmala Sitaraman and Ranjeet Ranjan of the Congress party. MP Ranjeet Ranjan asked a question on the Ujjwala Yojna turning out to be a damp squib.
"Many families have not been able to refill their cylinders under the Ujjwala scheme. I have got this data through RTI that almost 4.5 crore families have been unable to refill and 2.5 crore have been able to refill only once a year so how come your scheme is a success when 7.5 crore are unable to refill their cylinders? " she asked.
As the FM started to reply about the success of the subsidy she was interrupted and that triggered a verbal dual. Nirmala Sitharaman said she was not ready to yield.
Women MPs from the Opposition benches have been finding innovative ways to highlight their protests against inflation. Interestingly, after the debate got over Congress MP Rajni Patil walked out of the House with a garland of vegetables around her neck.
"I am wearing this garland because it's got all the vegetables and they have become like jewels these days. This has brinjal, cauliflower, peas and chilli. They cost more than Rs 150. So you can imagine the plight of a homemaker," she said.
A day before, TMC's Lok Sabha MP Kakoli Ghosh had bitten into a raw brinjal while speaking on price rise. We will have to adopt this habit of eaten raw food as cylinder prices have spiralled and are at all time high, she said.
