Union Minister Giriraj Singh takes dig at Rahul Gandhi over ‘fisheries ministry’ remark

NEW DELHI: BJP leader and Union Minister Giriraj Singh on Tuesday took a dig at Congress leader Rahul Gandhi over his demand for a separate fisheries ministry and said that he was not sure if the latter’s memory failed when he claimed that there was no fisheries department in the NDA government.

“I am hurt. Rahul Gandhi had asked a question on February 2. But in Puducherry and Kochi, he said that there is no fisheries department, I don’t know if his memory failed him. ‘I will form a separate ministry when we come to power’, Gandhi had said. Whose question was this?” Giriraj Singh, who is the Union Minister of Fisheries, Animal Husbandry and Dairying of India, said while speaking in the Lok Sabha.

Speaking in the Lok Sabha, Singh said that the Congress leader should be sent to schools so that he can be taught what all departments and ministries are there in the government at the Centre.

After Rahul Gandhi’s gaffe in Puducherry on February 17 calling for the setting up of a separate ministry for fisheries, Giriraj had taken to Twitter to take a swipe at the Congress leader’s “ignorance” and attempt to “spread misinformation”.

“Caro Raul (@RahulGandhi), Non esiste un Ministero della pesca separato in Italia. Viene sotto Ministero delle Politiche Agricole e Forestali. politicheagricole.it” (There is no separate Ministry of Fisheries in Italy. It comes under the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry),” Giriraj had tweeted.

The Gandhi scion, who was in Puducherry that day to kickstart the Congress’ election campaign, had addressed the fishing community and spoke about the ongoing farmers’ protest.

“The government passed three bills against farmers, the backbone of a nation. You must be wondering why am I talking about farmers at the meeting of fishermen. I consider you to be farmers of the sea. If farmers of the land can have a ministry in Delhi, then why not the fishermen?” Rahul Gandhi had asked.

“The current government is attacking small and medium businesses because they want all businesses to be controlled by big corporations. Our view is different. We want to strengthen small and medium businesses because we believe that’s the strength of this country,” the Congress leader had said.

After this remark from Rahul Gandhi, Giriraj Singh, in a tweet in Hindi, had also said, “Rahul ji! You should know that on May 31, 2019, Modi ji created a new ministry. And started the Rs 20050 cr Master Plan (PMMSY) which is several times more than the central government’s expenditure from independence to 2014 (3682 cr).”

“Rahul Ji! I request you to come to the new fisheries ministry or call me where I come. Let me tell you about the schemes being run by the new Fisheries Ministry all over the country and Puducherry,” he had said in another tweet.