"Maths have never helped Einstein discover gravity," Piyush Goyal said. (File)

Highlights The minister's defence of economy led to an error on discovery of gravity

Twitter pointed out it was Newton and not Einstein who discovered gravity

"The comment that I made had a certain context," Piyush Goyal said later

Union minister Piyush Goyal's defence of the economy under Prime Minister Narendra Modi's government led to an inadvertent error on the "discovery" of gravity today, setting Twitter buzzing. Jokes and memes flooded the social media platform as some users pointed to Union minister Nirmala Sitharaman's comment on millennials -- while explaining the auto sector slowdown -- days before. Mr Goyal later said his remarks were taken out of context.

Speaking to reporters after a meeting with the Board of Trade in Delhi, Mr Goyal advised people not to go by calculations seen on television.

"If you're looking at a five trillion dollar economy, the country will have to grow at 12%. Today it's growing at 6%," he said. "Don't get into those maths. Those maths have never helped Einstein discover gravity... If you'd only gone by structured formulae and what was past knowledge, I don't think there would have been any innovation in this world," he added.

Twitter promptly pointed out that it was Newton and not Einstein who discovered gravity and the names of both scientists shot up in the trending lists.

In face of widespread derision, the minster later explained, "The comment that I made had a certain context. Unfortunately some friends have sought to remove the context, pick up one line and create a very mischievous narrative."

But even there, he went by the Einstein analogy.

Among those who joined in the fun was former Union minister Jairam Ramesh:

Yes, Mr. Minister. Einstein did not need maths to discover gravity since Newton already had. Now wait for HRD Minister to say that long before Newton our ancients knew all about gravity (or has he already?)



With such ministers, only God can #FixTheEconomypic.twitter.com/Zcpj2jOjP8 — Jairam Ramesh (@Jairam_Ramesh) September 12, 2019

So yesterday the Finance Minister blamed millennials and today Piyush Goel says to leave maths out of the economy! God help us. #BoycottMillennials - Rahul Puri (@rahulpuri) September 12, 2019

Piyush Goel says that don't get into calculations about the economy. Don't get into maths. Maths never helped Einstein discover Gravity. Is this joke on economy - Amit Kumar (@amitkumarz) September 12, 2019

Nirmala seethraman :economy slowdown due to millennial..



Piyush goel:Hold my beer

Economy slow down due to maths... - haris (@harispmna) September 12, 2019

Yesterday, finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman's comment linking millennials' preference for Uber and Ola cabs to the auto sector crisis had set off a flurry of criticism on social media. Sarcastic hashtag "#BoycottMillennials" quickly became a top trend.

Ms Sitharaman said millennials choosing app-based cab aggregators over committing money to EMIs for new cars had affected the auto sector, which has seen double-digit fall in sales for both two and four-wheeler manufacturers.

The BJP has been under repeated Congress attack over the flagging economy that is witnessing job cuts across various sectors, and is having to defend its ambitious target of containing fiscal deficit at 3.3 per cent of the GDP.

Earlier today, Congress's Rahul Gandhi tweeted, "What India needs isn't propaganda, manipulated news cycles & foolish theories about millennials, but a concrete plan to #FixTheEconomy that we can all get behind. Acknowledging that we have a problem is a good place to start".