Pune, October 18: Union Minister for Railways and Commerce Piyush Goyal on Friday congratulated the Nobel Laureate Abhijit Banerjee for his achievement, but twisted his message stating that the people were aware that his "thought process is Left-leaning". Pointing out at 2019 Nobel Prize for Economics for supporting the Congress's NYAY scheme, Goyal said that Indians had rejected his ideology.

Speaking with the media in Pune, the Union Minister said, "I congratulate Abhijit Banerjee for winning the Nobel prize. You all know that his thinking is totally Left-leaning. Banerjee supported NYAY (poverty alleviation scheme of the Congress), and people of India rejected his ideology." Kapil Sibal Takes a Jibe at PM Narendra Modi by Quoting Nobel Laureate Abhijit Banerjee, Advises Him to go For 'Less Photo-Ops'.

Here's ANI Tweet:

The remarks of the Union Minister comes two days after Prime Minister Narendra Modi congratulated Indian-American economist Abhijit Banerjee for winning the 2019 Nobel Economics Prize along with Esther Duflo and Michael Kremer -- for their contribution in the alleviation of global poverty.

However, the remarks of Goyal comes at a time when Prof Banerjee stated that 'the economy is doing very badly in my view'. The economist told a press conference at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology after winning the prize. Adding more, he pointed put that monetary support should not be a point of concern when the economy is going into a "tailspin".

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Oct 18, 2019 04:11 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).