Union Minister Piyush Goyal speaks in the Lok Sabha during the Monsoon session of Parliament, in New Delhi on Thursday, July 19, 2018. (LSTV screengrab via PTI) Union Minister Piyush Goyal speaks in the Lok Sabha during the Monsoon session of Parliament, in New Delhi on Thursday, July 19, 2018. (LSTV screengrab via PTI)

Union Finance Minister Piyush Goyal on Thursday said that he doesn’t understand the “foreign accent” of Congress leader Shashi Tharoor. Attacking the NDA government while participating in the debate on Fugitive Economic Offenders Bill, the Congress leader from Kerala said that there was a ‘significant gap’ between the government’s rhetoric and action.

Continuing his attack on the government, Tharoor said Nirav Modi, who had fled the country after allegedly duping state-run banks of crores of rupees, was seen in a group picture with Prime Minister Narendra Modi in Davos. He then added that the PM had promised to be a ‘chowkidar’.

Responding to him, Goyal said he failed to understand the “foreign accent” of Tharoor. This statement of Goyal was objected to by RSP member N K Premachandran, who is also Tharoor’s fellow MP from Kerala. Premachandran, who came into Tharoor’s defence, said, “It is not fair on the part of the minister” to pass such comments. Later when Parliamentary Affairs Minister Ananth Kumar intervened in the matter, Premachandran retorted that he had every right to do so, since the minister had made an observation about a member of the opposition.

Shashi Tharoor, who is a two-time MP from Thiruvananthapuram, is well known for his strong command over the English language. Prior to his entry in the politics, Tharoor served extensively at the United Nations, where he had unsuccessfully contested for the UN Secretary General’s post.

(With PTI inputs)

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