Rahul Gandhi dubs Piyush Goyal a 'bigot' for calling Nobel laureate Abhijit Banerjee 'totally Left-leaning', says 'can't explain it to them'

Former Congress chief Rahul Gandhi dubbed Union minister Piyush Goyal a "bigot" in a tweet on Sunday. Sharing an interview of Nobel winner Abhijit Banerjee, where the economist is reacting to Minister of Railways and Commerce & Industry Goyal's recent comments on Banerjee being "totally Left-leaning", Rahul said, "Please be certain that millions of Indians are proud of your work."

"These bigots are blinded by hatred and have no idea what a professional is. You cannot explain it to them, even if you tried for a decade," Rahul tweeted on Sunday, referring to Goyal and other BJP leaders, who criticised Banerjee for supporting the NYAY scheme of the Congress dispensation.

Dear Mr Banerjee,

These bigots are blinded by hatred and have no idea what a professional is. You cannot explain it to them, even if you tried for a decade.

Please be certain that millions of Indians are proud of your work. https://t.co/dwJS8QtXvG

— Rahul Gandhi (@RahulGandhi) October 20, 2019

Days after Banerjee painted a dismal picture of the Indian economy, Goyal said the economist has "totally left-leaning thinking" and that he had supported Congress’ proposal of NYAY scheme which was rejected by people of the country in the 2019 Lok Sabha polls.

#WATCH Piyush Goyal:Abhijit Banerjee ji ko nobel prize mila main unko badhai deta hun.Lekin unki samajh ke bare me to aap sab jaante hain.Unki jo thinking hai,wo totally left leaning hai.Unhone NYAY ke bade gungaan gaye the,Bharat ki janta ne totally reject kar diya unki soch ko pic.twitter.com/v7OO49ie5E — ANI (@ANI) October 18, 2019

"Banerjee has recently got the Nobel Prize and I congratulate him. Lekin unki samjh ke baare mein to aap sab jante hain. (You all know about his understanding (of economy). His thinking is totally left-leaning. He had supported NYAY (Congress’s electoral promise in Lok Sabha poll) scheme and had praised it heavily. People of India have totally rejected his thinking," said Goyal, and added, "I'm proud that an Indian has got the Nobel prize, but it’s not necessary that I should agree with his ideas. Especially when the people of this country rejected his suggestion, I think we don't need to accept his ideas."

Banerjee had assisted the Congress party in formulating the NYAY or or Nyuntam Aay Yojana scheme which promised to give Rs 72,000 annually to each of the 20 percent families in the poorest of the poor category. NYAY headlined the Congress manifesto for the national election earlier this year. The party crashed in the Lok Sabha elections.

Speaking to NDTV on the controversy, Banerjee said, "If the BJP government, like the Congress party, had asked what were the numbers on the fraction of people under a particular income, would I have not told them the truth? I would have told them exactly, I would have been as willing. In terms of being a professional, I want to be professional with everyone." "I am not partisan in my economic thinking," he went on to say.

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