The prices of onions have been skyrocketing. People have been reportedly buying 250 grams of the vegetable as the amount of 1 kg can burn a hole in their pockets. Amid the onion price hike, the Finance Minister, Nirmala Sitharaman, said that she and her family do not eat onion and garlic as much. While she said that during a question raised in Parliament about onion production when an MP asked her about whether she ate onions, her statement has evoked a stream of satirical responses on social media and people were once again trending #SayItLikeNirmalaTai. Taking a jibe on the Finance Minister’s remark made during the Lok Sabha’s winter session, the "millennials" were creating funny memes and jokes as the responses took over Twitter while the country battles economic crisis.
Lok Sabha MP Supriya Sule asked Sitharaman about the increasing loans and problems being faced by the onion farmers. “Why has the production of onion gone down? We export rice and milk and so many other products. Onion grower is a small farmer and he really needs to be protected,” asked Sule. Before she could respond, some of the opposition members also stressed majorly on the onion price hike. Before the Finance minister could speak, another MP asked if she herself ate onions. To this, Sitharaman responded, “I don't eat much of onion and garlic. I come from such a family which doesn't have much to do with onion.”
Watch the Video Here:
#WATCH: FM Sitharaman says "Main itna lehsun, pyaaz nahi khati hoon ji. Main aise pariwar se aati hoon jaha onion, pyaaz se matlab nahi rakhte" when an MP intervenes&asks her 'Aap pyaaz khaate hain?' while she was answering NCP's Supriya Sule's ques on production&price of onions. pic.twitter.com/i6OG7GN775
— ANI (@ANI) December 4, 2019
Her response surfaced online, and citizens started to trend “Say It Like Nirmala Tai” poking fun at her eating habits. Prices of onions in many places have crossed Rs 100 per kg, and it is because of lesser production. Netizens began to troll the Finance Minister for her remark and inaction against price hike.
#SayItLikeNirmala Trends on Twitter:
She is the same Fin min who launched "operation greens " to control prices of onion, tomato &potato..... But when it actually needs execution.... She said I don't eat it 🤔...
— Amit kumar (@Amitkr1408) December 5, 2019
What about dal price?
I don't care about Onion price as I don't eat onions.
Reporter : what about the dal price mam?
Nirmala : sorry we had only dosa and chutney for breakfast, hence I don't care about dal as well 😡#SayItLikeNirmalaTai
— ᴀꜱɢᴀʀ🐍 (@asgarhid) December 4, 2019
And middle class?
Nirmala Sitharaman doesn't care about middle class coz she was always a backbencher.#SayItLikeNirmalaTai
— Nirmala Tai (@Vishj05) December 5, 2019
Point Noted:
Nirmala Sitharaman doesn't care about the economy because she doesn't travel economy class.#SayItLikeNirmalaTai
— PuNsTeR™ (@Pun_Starr) December 4, 2019
Yes, How Can We Ignore That!
Piyush Goyal doesn't care about railway because he doesn't travel by train #SayItLikeNirmalaTai
— Sir Bharwa & Dalal (@dalaliontop) December 4, 2019
This is not the first time that Sitharaman has been called out online for her remarks on burning issues. In September 2019, she claimed that the automobile industry was facing a decline because of the “millennial mindset” of choosing services like Ola and Uber.
The shortage of low production of onions has led the insanely higher prices. As per the latest reports, the Indian government has placed an order for import of 11,000 tonnes of onions from Turkey.
(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Dec 05, 2019 01:06 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).