Congress leader Rahul Gandhi and finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman sparred on X on Wednesday, with the former claiming the Tata group was being “criminally destroyed” and the latter saying Gandhi should “stop politicising every issue.”
“Being the LoP, I suggest you refrain from politicising every issue. Also, casually labelling commercial and legal matters as criminal is unacceptable,” Sitharaman posted in response to Gandhi. Neither the government nor Tata Sons and Tata Trusts issued a statement on the meeting.
Gandhi’s reference was to a meeting involving Tata Trusts chairman Noel Tata, Tata Sons chairman Chandrasekaran and other trustees with home minister Amit Shah and Sitharaman at Shah’s residence on 7 October last year.
She said the Congress had stifled Indian entrepreneurs under the “Licence-Quota Raj”, while the government led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi values industry as job creators and drivers of growth. She said its policies are tailored to enable enterprise, support industry and encourage investment. Sitharaman questioned whether Gandhi was trying to incite business leaders to join him in spreading “distrust & toxicity”. She said parties, governments and institutions share an equal responsibility to support industry, farmers and youth, and urged him to engage constructively.
“Tata is being criminally destroyed, and no business leader dares say a word. How long will you stay silent? Until they own you? Indian business is not Modi and Shah’s plaything. You lack courage. We don’t.
We will ensure justice for these crimes,” Gandhi, the Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha, said in his first post on the issue on Wednesday morning.
