Reacting to Congress leader Rahul Gandhi’s remark on the need to set up a fisheries ministry at the Centre, Home Minister Amit Shah asked the public if they wanted a leader who “doesn't know that Department of Fisheries has been in existence for two years.”
While addressing a gathering in Puducherry’s Karaikal on Sunday, 28 February, he mocked the Congress leader saying:
“Narendra Modi ji has already worked to form a separate ministry for fishermen. Rahul bhaiya, you were on leave, so you are not aware.”
On Thursday, Prime Minister Narendra Modi had attacked Rahul Gandhi over the said remarks. The PM expressed shock at the opposition leader’s ‘ignorance’, saying that such a ministry was set up by the Central government in 2019.
"I was absolutely shocked to hear a Congress leader come and say they want to start a fisheries ministry because there is none. The truth is that it already exists. The current NDA government has already set up a fisheries ministry back in 2019 itself," ANI quoted PM Modi as saying.
Following the PM’s jab, the Wayanad MP took to Twitter and clarified, “Fisherfolk need an independent and dedicated ministry of fisheries, not just a department within a ministry.”
Amit Shah on Unemployment Rate in Puducherry
In Karaikal, Union Minister Amit Shah stated that the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) will form the government in Puducherry in the upcoming elections.
Speaking about the unemployment rate prevailing in the union territory, he said:
“About 75 percent of Puducherry youth is unemployed, if you vote for the NDA government, we will reduce the unemployment rate to less than 40 percent.”
Puducherry is currently under the President’s Rule which was imposed in the union territory, days after the the ruling Congress and Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) coalition government fell, after having failed to prove its majority in the Assembly.
The Union territory of Puducherry will have polling in a single phase on 6 April and the results of the elections will be announced on 2 May.
(With inputs from ANI)
(At The Quint, we question everything. Play an active role in shaping our journalism by becoming a member today.)