Off late, desi Twitter has been directing its ironic sense of humour towards Union ministers and their statements. First, they protested against Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman attributing “millennial mindset” to the slowdown in the automobile sector. And then they took down Commerce & Industry Minister Piyush Goyal for crediting the discovery of gravity to Albert Einstein instead of Isaac Newton.
According to NDTV, in his closing comments at a meeting with the Board of Trade in New Delhi, he had said,
“If you’re looking at a five trillion dollar economy, the country will have to grow at 12%. Today it’s growing at 6%. 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.”
Later, Mr. Goyal issued a clarification regarding his gaffe saying that he was being quoted out of context. Take a look.
#WATCH Union Minister Piyush Goyal's clarification on his recent comments: The comment that I made had a certain context. Unfortunately some friends have sought to remove the context, pickup one line and create a very mischievous narrative. pic.twitter.com/bzugSwSTyi
— ANI (@ANI) September 12, 2019
Hindustan Times quoted him saying,
“There is a very mischievous and baseless narrative sought to be presented about my closing comments at the board of trade meeting this morning.”
He further added, “I was making a comment about encouraging Indian industry/Indian business to aspire for a one trillion dollar export target within the next five years and to encourage and enthuse the exporter community.”
But people were not impressed by his explanation. They rued the fact that he had failed to come forward and accept his error.
@PiyushGoyal Clarifying the clarification now?! Just apologize and be done with it. Say, "Sorry, it was not Einstein, but Newton, I meant. It was a slip of tongue and I developed a blind spot for the mistake, even when clarifying. The context of innovation, however, remains."
— Deshbhakti ≠ (Pseudo)Nationalism (@IndranilRoy) September 12, 2019
@PiyushGoyal you can also accept that you’ve made a mistake that’s simple.
— Lucifer (@StanTLT) September 12, 2019
He still doesnt get it..einstein dint discover gravity. It was newton…
And by the way wid 5 % gdp growth and stagnant exports even when rupee is depreciating u cant get a trillion dollar exports…just another jumla…— oxymoron (@oxymarooned) September 12, 2019
Although we understood the stand of minister encouraging for a trillion $ economy, he could have just accepted his mistake in his comment, instead giving a clarification highlights a little stubbornness.. which was not expected.
— Mohammad Kasim (@kasim_mks) September 12, 2019
It was not a mischievous narrative but a blunder on the part of the speaker! When will politicians learn the merit in owning up to their mistakes?! @PiyushGoyal
— Sunil Anand (@Sunil_Doc1) September 12, 2019
No no sir, I have heard the whole thing, you screwed up big time! Even if you want to defend, don’t repeat the word context, explain the context!
— Raghuram Rajan (@ArunSFan) September 12, 2019
Einstein and gravity again? Atleast while clarifying it was supposed to be corrected..😂 How USD 1 trillion export or 5 Trillion is to be achieved is a question that need to be answered..on the ground situation is getting worse..looks govt is still not getting the pulse!!!
— Sandeep Wirkhare (@SandeepWirkhare) September 13, 2019
Still u r not correcting the mistake… its Newton not Einstein…
— Dark Skin 🐳 (@RoopeshRaghav) September 13, 2019
Earlier, US President Donald Trump goofed up at the American Workforce Policy Advisory Board Meeting by referring to Apple CEO Tim Cook as ‘Tim Apple’.