Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman took a dig at Ramchandra Guha after the noted historian sarcastically said that the "economy is safe hands"
Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Thursday took a dig at noted historian Ramchandra Guha after he had initially posted a tweet quoting a British author, leading to a debate on social media.
It ended with Sitharaman telling Guha that the economy is in "safe hands" and that he does not need to worry.
Earlier on Thursday, Guha had posted a tweet quoting British writer Phillip Spratt. “Gujarat, though economically advanced, is culturally a backward province. Bengal, in contrast, is economically backward but culturally advanced,” Tweeted Guha quoting the British writer.
Soon after Guha posted the tweet, Gujarat Chief Minister Vijay Rupani and Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman responded.
Rupani said, “Earlier it was the British who tried to divide and rule. Now it is a group of elites who want to divide Indians. Indians won’t fall for such tricks. Gujarat is great, Bengal is great...India is united. Our cultural foundations are strong, our economic aspirations are high.”
Responding strongly, Guha said: “If the Gujarat Chief Minister is, at this moment in history, (a) so keenly following the tweets of a humdrum historian and (b) so easily confusing the historian with a dead writer being quoted, the State of Gujarat must indeed be in safe hands.”
Nirmala Sitharaman soon followed up and shared an article from September 2018 about the Poland government organising an event to honour Maharaja Jam Saheb Digvijaysinhji Jadeja, the former king of Jamnagar, for giving shelter to at least 1,000 children during World War II.
Nirmala Sitharaman soon followed up and shared an article from September 2018 about the Poland government organising an event to honour Maharaja Jam Saheb Digvijaysinhji Jadeja, the former king of Jamnagar, for giving shelter to at least 1,000 children during World War II.
"In 1939, when Philip Spratt, from Britain, belonging to the Communist International wrote, (who @Ram_Guha quotes) this was what was happening in Gujarat: Jamnagar... Maharaja Jam Saheb Digvijaysinhji Jadeja... saved 1,000 Polish children #Culture,” tweeted Sitharaman.
To this post, Guha sarcastically said “the economy is surely in safe hands” and wondered why the finance minister was “obsessing” about a “humdrum historian’s tweet”.
This led to Nirmala Sitharaman telling Guha that the economy is in safe hands and there is no need to worry.
“The economy is very much in safe hands; worry not, Mr Guha. Taking cognisance of thoughts in current national discourse+responsibly doing my job aren’t mutually exclusive. Either way, an interest in history is a plus. Surely an intellectual such as yourself should know that,” she said.
Guha, however, posted another separate tweet where he said, “I have been trying without success for thirty years to make the writer Philip Spratt better known; thank you to the Troll Army for accomplishing this in a day.”