Rahul slams Goyal for mocking Nobel-winner Abhijit

Rahul Gandhi, Piyush Goyal

New Delhi: Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Sunday hit out at Union minister Piyush Goyal for his remarks that Nobel laureate Abhijit Banerjee is "Left-leaning", saying "these bigots are blinded by hatred" and have no idea what a professional is.

Goyal, at a media briefing in Pune, had described Banerjee as a "Left-leaning" person. The Nobel laureate on Saturday told a TV channel that the commerce minister is "questioning my professionalism".

"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," Gandhi said in a tweet tagging the media report on Banerjee's response to Goyal's comments on him.

"Please be certain that millions of Indians are proud of your work," the former Congress president said.

Goyal on Friday had also said Banerjee's suggestion of a minimum income scheme was rejected by Indian voters and there was no need to "accept what he thinks".

On Saturday, Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi Vadra had also hit out at Goyal for his remarks and said the government's job is not to run a "comedy circus", but improve the "collapsing" economy.

The comments posted here/below/in the given space are not on behalf of Onmanorama. The person posting the comment will be in sole ownership of its responsibility. According to the central government's IT rules, obscene or offensive statement made against a person, religion, community or nation is a punishable offense, and legal action would be taken against people who indulge in such activities.