Congress leader and Wayanad MP Rahul Gandhi made another gaffe. He was addressing his first public meeting for elections to the Puducherry Assembly that is likely to be held in April.
"Government passed three Bills against farmers, the backbone of a nation. You must be wondering why am I talking about farmers at meeting of fishermen. I consider you to be farmers of the sea. If farmers of the land can have ministry in Delhi, then why is that farmers of sea don't have the same," Gandhi 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 said.
However, there is a ministry for fisheries that comes under the Department of Fisheries, Ministry of Fisheries, Animal Husbandry & Dairying.
After Gandhi's gaffe calling for the setting up of a separate ministry for fisheries, union ministers Giriraj Singh and Smriti Irani took to Twitter to take a swipe at the Congress leader's ignorance and attempt to "spread misinformation."
Both ministers slammed the Wayanad MP and did so in Italian! Giriraj Singh who is Minister for Fisheries, Animal Husbandry & Dairying, tweeted, "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. http://politicheagricole.it)
Giriraj Singh also in a tweet in Hindi 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," Singh said in another tweet.
The Union Textiles minister Smirti Irani posted "Sanno solo una cosa. Diffondere bugie, paura e disinformazione." (They only know one thing. Spreading lies, fear and misinformation.) Gandhi who was in Puducherry today to kickstart the Congess' election campaign addressed the fishing community and spoke about the ongoing farmers' protest.
Other BJP leaders too joined the Union Minister. Check out their reactions here:
Netizens too slammed the Congress leader for not knowing the ministries under the Government of India.