'Should look in her own backyard': Nirmala Sitharaman after Mahua Moitra's 'Pappu' jibe

"Honorable member Mahua Moitra has questioned who's the Pappu, where's the Pappu. She should look in her own backyard, and she will find Pappu in West Bengal," Sitharaman said during the discussion on Supplementary Demands for Grants in the Lok Sabha.

Mahua Moitra on Tuesday attacked the government over its claims of economic progress.

Calling the claims "falsehoods", she said every February, the government had people believe that the economy is doing great and everyone is getting all basic amenities like gas cylinders, housing, and electricity.

In a Lok Sabha debate on demands for additional grants for 2022-23, Moitra accused the Narendra Modi government of spreading "falsehood" about India's growth.

She appealed to Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman to take control of the economy, which, according to TMC MP, is going downhill.

Moitra started by quoting the author Jonathan Swift. "As the vilest writer has his readers, so the greatest liar has believers. And it often happens, that if a lie is believed only for an hour, it has done its work, and there is no further occasion for it. Falsehood flies and truth comes limping after it," she said.

Remarking that "All the macro-economic fundamentals are being questioned," Sitharaman on Tuesday said, "So there is no doubt that where there are wonderful schemes to benefit common people, West Bengal sits over it, doesn't distribute it. You don't have to search anywhere else for Pappu".

This came in response to Moitra slamming the Centre over its alleged coining of the term "Pappu".

"This government and the ruling party coined the term Pappu. You use it to denigrate and signify extreme incompetence. But the statistics tell us who the actual Pappu is," she said.

Referring to the latest data released by the National Statistical Office (NSO), Moitra claimed that while the country's industrial output shrunk by four per cent in October to a 26-month low, the manufacturing sector, which is "still the biggest generator of jobs", has contracted to 5.6 per cent.

She also took a swipe at the BJP over its defeat in the just-concluded Himachal Pradesh assembly elections, saying the ruling party's president could not hold on to his home state. "Who is the Pappu now?" she asked.

Responding to Mohau's attack on the Centre, Moitra said: "But even worse is this one. 'Maachis kiske haath mein hai'. I don't want to elaborate too much on this. Because she probably wanted to spice up her questions... In a democracy people elect the leader. Don't undermine the people by saying who's given them the power."

The Union Minister also spoke about the BJP's latest election victory in Gujarat and compared it to West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee's Bengal win last year as well as the post-election violence in the eastern state.

"The BJP had a fantastic victory in Gujarat, and see how peacefully the new government took over. Compare it to Bengal's state elections -- the question is how the maachis was used there and by whom? When the maachis was in our hand, we gave Ujjwala, Ujala, PM Kisan Yojana, Swach Bharat Abhiyan. In your hands the maachis led to looting, rapes of our (BJP) workers," Sitharaman added.