FM Sitharaman, BJP counter industrialist Rahul Bajaj as his 'fear' remark triggers debate

A debate has broken out as veteran industrialist Rahul Bajaj on Saturday in an award function told Home Minister Amit Shah that 'there is an atmosphere of fear', and 'people are afraid to criticise the government'. Slamming him for his remarks, BJP has called out his selective criticism and has said that his claims are false. Taking to Twitter, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said that Home Minister Amit Shah addresses and answers questions and criticisms. BJP's IT cell head Amit Malviya accused him of favouring the Congress government and its leader Rahul Gandhi.

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Home Minister responds on Bajaj's criticism

Earlier on Saturday, Bajaj said: "When UPA II was in power, we could criticise anyone. You are doing good work, but despite that, we don’t have the confidence that you will appreciate if we criticise you openly are heard and answered/addressed. (Aap achchha kaam kar rahe hain, uske baad bhi, hum aapko criticise openly karein, confidence nahin hai ki you will appreciate).

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Answering to that, Home Minister Amit Shah clearly stated that there is no need to fear and criticism are heard by the government. Shah said, "If you say there is a certain kind of atmosphere, we will have to make efforts to improve it. But I would like to point out that there is no need for anybody to be afraid. People are criticising and they can criticise. The government has run in the most transparent way, and we have no fear of any kind of opposition. If anyone criticises us, we will look at the merit of the same and make efforts to improve ourselves."

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