New Delhi:
The ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has not dearth of leaders to defend the government over the prevailing economic mess in the country. From prominent faces like Ravi Shankar Prasad and Nishikant Dubey to Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman herself, have made embarrassing remarks in defence of the state of economic affairs in the country. In the long list, Another saffron party leader and MP from Ballia in Uttar Pradesh, Virendra Singh Mast has given a bizarre logic to reject the slowdown in the auto sector.
While participating in a debate in Parliament on the state of agriculture in the country, Mast said that this (that automobile sales have declined) is being said to defame the country and the government. "To defame the nation and government people are saying that the automobile sector has slowed down. If there is a decline in automobile sales then why are there traffic jams on the roads?" Virendra Singh Mast asked parliament.
While the BJP leader's logic says there can't be slowdown if there are traffic jams on the roads, the industry data confirms the automobile sector in India is facing an unprecedented downturn, due to which thousands have already lost their jobs.
Earlier this week, India's leading automaker Maruti Suzuki reported a decline of 3.3 per cent in vehicle sales for November against the same time period last year. Another company Bajaj Auto has said that sales of its motorcycles also fell 13.87 per cent in October this year. According to the data releaased by the Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers, passenger vehicle sales fell 23.69 per cent the previous month.
However, Mast can't be blamed for his poor logic and the finance minister herself had courted controversy by saying that the 'millennial mindset' of preferring app-based cab hailing services such as Ola and Uber was behind the slump in auto sector.
On Thursday, she again put the ruling party in a rather embarassing situation while commenting on the onion crisis during a debate in Parliament. Sitharaman said that since she doesn't eat onions and that she comes from a family that has nothing much to do with the onions.
