Pawan Khera couldn't help pressing his palm against his head in disbelief. "Priceless," said one political analyst, tweeting a howling emoticon to boot.

The reason for all this incredulity and mirth? On an Aaj Tak TV debate (which featured Khera, a Congress leader), BJP spokesperson Shahnawaz Hussain replied to a remark on Hindustan Aeronautics Limited's (HAL) cash crunch like this:

"We are cashless economy people. Why do you want cash in hand?"

He said this, apparently, in all seriousness.

Now, what was the exact context? The anchor had just pointed to comments made by the HAL's CMD, R Madhavan, about the defence PSU's finances. "Our cash in hand is in the negative," Madhavan told a leading daily. "We've had to borrow close to Rs 1,000 crore as an overdraft."

When Shahnawaz Hussain replied as he did, the anchor said the panelists were having a serious discussion.

"Yes, it's a serious discussion," Hussain said. "What do you want? You want cash in hand?"

The anchor explained that the HAL boss was talking about paying employees' salaries. Pawan Khera's forehead disappeared behind his palm.

"There is no cash in hand these days," Hussain later said.

Here's a sample of reactions on Twitter, which have clips of the exchange.

I don't know why people are frothing in the mouth!

Have you EVER seen a party spokesperson stun a primetime anchor into silence so quickly?

This is beyond the capability of even @sambitswaraj Ji pic.twitter.com/txJ3iZDY9g Akash Banerjee (@akashbanerjee) January 7, 2019

Brilliant rebuttal by Shahnawaz Hussain: Why does HAL need "cash in hand" when we are a cashless economy? #KamalKeFools pic.twitter.com/552jq1iaWF January 7, 2019

"Why does HAL need cash? We are a cashless economy," he says. Priceless. https://t.co/XHhtKRDPzC Sumanth Raman (@sumanthraman) January 7, 2019