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Rahul Bajaj questions, Amit Shah responds at the ET Awards 2019

WATCH | #RahulBajaj questions, @AmitShah responds at the #ETAwards 2019 | https://t.co/ISEbzTMbqp Download the ET… https://t.co/ayjtCZP86w — Economic Times (@EconomicTimes) 1575178977000

Home Minister @AmitShah answers on how issues raised by Shri. Rahul Bajaj were addressed. Questions/criticisms are… https://t.co/wOWrxYhz7u — Nirmala Sitharaman (@nsitharaman) 1575210616000

MUMBAI: Congress on Sunday latched on to Rahul Bajaj’s remarks at the Economic Times Awards for Corporate Excellence on Pragya Thakur, tax terrorism and fear of criticising the government on Saturday night to say, “It can be difficult to speak truth to power. Circumstances, however, have made doing so increasingly necessary. Rahul Bajaj stands out for his courage and integrity in calling a spade a spade.”The Congress statement came on a day that Biocon CMD Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw tweeted that the government was treating India Inc as pariahs and did not want to hear any criticism of the economy. However, Union minister Hardeep Puri tweeted, “That Mr Rahul Bajaj could face up to Shri Amit Shah ji’s face, express himself freely and instigate others to join him clearly indicate that freedom of expression and democratic values are alive & flourishing in India.”Finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman posted a link to a video on the ET website showing Bajaj’s remarks and home minister Amit Shah’s response, and tweeted, “Answers on how issues raised by Shri Rahul Bajaj were addressed. Questions/criticisms are heard and answered/addressed. Always a better way to seek an answer than spreading one’s own impressions which, on gaining traction, can hurt national interest.”In a report on Sunday headlined “Past wrongdoings resolved, no need for fear: Shah to India Inc”, TOI had quoted Shah as saying, not once but twice, “no one needs to fear anything” in response to concerns within business and industry about an atmosphere of fear created by taxmen.Addressing Shah, finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman and commerce and railway minister Piyush Goyal, Bajaj on Saturday said, “There is an atmosphere…tax terrorism, the word is wrong or right, whatever it is…But this atmosphere, this is definitely on our mind, but nobody will say it, nobody will talk about it, none of my industrialist friends… In UPA 2 we could give gaalis to anyone. You’re doing good work but even then if we were to criticise you openly, we don’t have the confidence that you’ll appreciate that.”Shah responded: “No one needs to fear anything. On Narendra Modiji and our government, many newspapers have written many things. Even today a lot is being written. If there is someone against whom the most has been written, it is us. Still, if you say there is an atmosphere that has been created, we will also have to work on improving the atmosphere. I do want to say that no one needs to fear anything. No one wants to scare anyone. Nor have we done anything that we need to worry about being criticised on. We are a most transparent government and we do not fear opposition (virodh).”As already reported by TOI on Sunday, Shah had responded to industry concerns about ‘tax terrorism’ by also saying, “There were some gross wrongdoings between 2004 and 2014 and we had to take some steps to fix and restore the system. Those steps are now over.”On Pragya, Bajaj said, “Nowadays anybody can be called a desh bhakt.. even those who shot Gandhiji. She’s been saying that for a while, she still got a ticket. Pradhan Mantri had said ‘it’ll be difficult for me to forgive someone like that’, but you got her back in the committee.”To which Shah replied, “As soon as Sadhvi Pragya’s statement came, senior leaders in the BJP criticised it and took steps and then later she apologised. The confusion was whether she spoke of Udham Singh or Godse but the fact is that such a statement is not supported by the government or the BJP. We strongly condemn it and we do not to hesitate to say so.”