Union Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal was Thursday ridiculed on Twitter after he made an epic gaffe while explaining how Prime Minster Narendra Modi’s mega promise of doubling the size of the economy to USD 5 trillion will be achieved when the growth was way below the required rate to reach the goal.
Speaking at a meeting of the Board of Trade, Goyal said that one should not get into the maths as it didn’t help Albert Einstein to discover gravity. People were quick to grab the goof-up and made fun of the minister as the gravity was discovered by Isaac Newton and not Einstein.
"Do not get into the calculations that you see on television...Oh if you are looking at USD 5 trillion economy, the country will have to grow at 12 per cent, today it is growing at 6-7 per cent…. This maths did not help Einstein discover gravity..…" he said while wrongly attributing the discovery of gravity to renowned scientist Einstein, who gave the theory of relativity.
This has come just two days after his colleague and Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman blamed millennials and not government policies for the unprecedented slump in auto industry. Some users even linked the remarks of Sitharaman and Goyal.
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The Opposition Congress also quipped on his remarks and said: "Former Finance Minister Piyush Goyal is correct, Einstein did not require maths to discover gravity, but Sir Isaac Newton did. FYI, maths is also required to #FixTheEconomy."
After facing intense mocking, the minister came out with a clarification and said that his remark was taken out of the context. He also shared his exact qoute but this time, thankfully some would say, he removed the Einstein claim.
#WATCH Union Minister Piyush Goyal's clarification on his recent comments: The comment that I made had a certain context. Unfortunately some friends have sought to remove the context, pickup one line and create a very mischievous narrative. pic.twitter.com/bzugSwSTyi
— ANI (@ANI) September 12, 2019
Below are some of the Twitter reactions on Piyush Goyal's Einstein remark:
Former Finance Minister @PiyushGoyal is correct, Einstein did not require maths to discover gravity, but Sir Isaac Newton did.
FYI, maths is also required to #FixTheEconomy. pic.twitter.com/Nr3QyYbPpA— Congress (@INCIndia) September 12, 2019
1. Einstein didn't discover gravity.
2. Newton did.
3. Gravity was discovered based on Mathematical work of laws of motion, not falling apple. pic.twitter.com/9Ydsw8FE2W— Sumit Kashyap (@sumitkashyapjha) September 12, 2019
Einstein just arrived in Manesar, Haryana to check the gravity of crisis in Maruti plant. pic.twitter.com/UVc69EOuDq
— Rofl Gandhi 2.0 (@RoflGandhi_) September 12, 2019
The govt shouldn't wait for an apple to fall on its head before it realises that the Math about the economy is all bad. It doesn't even need an Einstein (due apologies to Newton) to tell us that. Instead of focusing on distant dreams, minister would do well to focus on reality. https://t.co/rhegLhpcIf
— Sitaram Yechury (@SitaramYechury) September 12, 2019
Rare picture of Albert Einstein when he discovered gravity.
*#PiyushGoyal knows maths and gravity* pic.twitter.com/r9jYT0CKHA— Riaz Ahmed (@karmariaz) September 12, 2019
Newton just turned in his grave and said- Bhai Einstein ye video dekh. pic.twitter.com/31Kf9HnAIm
— Scotchy (@scotchism) September 12, 2019
Why should Nirmala have all the fun? Piyush Goyal has just delivered a blockbuster dialogue
"Don't get into calculations about the economy. Don't get into maths. Maths never helped Einstein discover Gravity" 🙄
Millennials and Maths are the problem. Not Modi Govt. Understood? pic.twitter.com/JCoCIbdoxp— Srivatsa (@srivatsayb) September 12, 2019
“Don’t get into Maths about Economy. Maths didn’t help Einstein discover Gravity”. Yogi Adityanath should quickly rename Newton to Einstein to justify @PiyushGoyal’s foolishness pic.twitter.com/BnhrNBj9Af
— Joy (@Joydas) September 12, 2019
Piyush Goyal : Maths is useless. It never helped Einstein discover Gravity.
Media : But sir Einstein didn’t discover Gravity. Newton did.
Piyush : Precisely. The whole point is that Bharat Mata ki Jai.
Media : 🙌ðŸÂ¼🙌ðŸÂ¼
#YoPiyushHatesMaths— ᴛʜᴇ á´ÂÂÂá´ÂÂÂÉ´á´‹ á´¡Êœá´Â sá´ÂÂÂÊŸá´… ʜɪs ғᴜᴄᴋᴇᴇʀɪ (@puntinational) September 12, 2019