When Nirmala Sitharaman took over as finance minister in the second term of the Modi government earlier this year, it was not only a moment of personal glory for her. It was also a proud moment for all of us to see her shatter a formidable glass ceiling and become the first full-time woman Finance Minister of India (Indira Gandhi was the only other woman who has held charge of the finance ministry).
No one doubted that Sitharaman had a tough job ahead of her. The economy was not in great shape and the country expected her to do what it took to re-energise it.
However, from the day Sitharaman, looking resplendent in a rani pink saree, presented her maiden budget, her stock amongst the Indian public began to nosedive.
The response to the budget was not just lukewarm — measures such as the enhanced surcharge on domestic and foreign portfolio investors spooked the markets, and sent them into a tailspin.
Meanwhile, the bad news on the economy kept piling up: The drastic slump in sales in the bellwether auto sector, GDP growth slowing to an over six year low of 5 percent in the April-June quarter, unemployment at a 45-year high, the contraction in demand, and so on. The economy was in distress, and urgent course correction was called for. Everyone felt that the finance minister needed to act — and act quickly.
‘Meme Queen’ Sitharaman
But here’s the thing: in the last one month, despite having announced a raft of measures to infuse positive sentiment into the economy, Sitharaman continues to be an object of derision and ridicule, especially on social media. The internet is rife with dozens of memes that are suggestive of her so-called ‘cluelessness’.
Her press conferences, where she announces steps meant to put the spark back into a sluggish economy, are mocked as knee-jerk, weekly mini-budgets.
Even her most innocuous tweets — an old photograph of her and her little daughter, or a casual observation about the nip in Delhi’s morning air — draw a flood of sarcasm.
While industry bigwigs and some commentators have voiced their praise for the FM —be it for the rollback of enhanced surcharge on FPIs, scrapping “angel tax” for startups or the reduction of corporate tax to 25 percent — Sitharaman is regularly excoriated on social media, where her every word and gesture tends to evoke reactions that range from the contemptuous to the openly hostile.
Does Nirmala Sitharaman Deserve the Flak?
Is this justified? Has Sitharaman become the fall girl for the mess the economy is in — a mess that she personally did nothing to contribute to? Does the perception that she is not quite up to the job have anything to do with the fact that she is a woman?
Sitharaman has had her share of missteps, and in today’s age of incessant and panoptic media glare, no public figure can hope to escape criticism for lapses in word or deed. But the question, however, is if the barrage of criticism and the weight of the animus against Sitharaman are disproportionate to the nature of her lapses.
She was widely ridiculed and dubbed as ‘clueless’; when faced with a question on the government’s fiscal plans at a recent press conference, she asked the revenue secretary to answer it.
But let’s not forget that soon after the elections were over this year, Prime Minister Narendra Modi let Amit Shah answer all questions directed at himself at his first press conference. That drew lots of snark as well, but no one doubted the PM’s competence because of it.
Similarly, Sitharaman’s statement, that auto sales had plummeted because millennials preferred to use Uber and Ola rather than buy cars, was mocked for days as absurd and fresh proof of her apparent lack of an understanding of the economy.
Is Nirmala Sitharaman Merely a ‘Figurehead’?
Sitharaman, who has a master’s degree in economics from Jawaharlal Nehru University, evidently has the right qualifications for the job. Her abilities, too, can hardly be doubted — the speed of her rise in the BJP, which she joined as recently as 2006, has been nothing short of breath-taking.
However, there are whispers in the Capital’s political grapevine that the FM is little more than a figurehead, that key decisions on the economy are taken by certain senior bureaucrats in her ministry who directly interact with the PMO, and that the Budget, too, was more their brainchild than it was the newly-minted Finance Minister’s, who put her signature on it.
Why We Can’t Forgive Sitharaman’s ‘Arrogance’
All this may or may not be true. But then there is also the widespread perception that Sitharaman is high-handed and arrogant. Well, when it comes to a woman, is there any deadlier sin than the sin of arrogance?
We find it easy enough to tolerate arrogant men, but more often than not, women in high offices thrive only when they are careful to hide their arrogance and make themselves as likeable as possible.
With her clipped, tight-lipped responses, the FM does come across as short on patience and good humour. She is often given to administering snubs and throwing sarcastic jibes at her interlocutors.
Last year, when she was defence minister, she was caught on camera expressing her wrath at a minister of the Karnataka government because she felt he had slighted her. Recently, Sitharaman exclaimed “adi podi” under her breath while a young reporter was asking her a question at a press conference. It was a dismissive Tamil expression, and entirely unsuitable for use against a member of the press who was doing her job.
Can’t Place All Blame for Economy On Sitharaman
These outbursts of ill temper and impatience do not burnish Sitharaman’s image. Needless to say, as the person in the hot seat, she will be questioned on the wisdom of the decisions taken by her ministry, and where found wanting she will face the flak.
But the virulence of the hostility towards Sitharaman, the damned-if-you-do-damned-if-you-don’t response to her every action, far outweigh all this.
It is, in fact, unfair — with a lashing of sexism on the side.
Let’s not be fooled into treating the finance minister as our ‘whipping girl’ for the current travails of the economy. Nirmala Sitharaman may have her flaws, but she did not bring us to this pass.
(Shuma Raha is a journalist and author based in Delhi. She tweets at @ShumaRaha. This is an opinion piece and the views expressed above are the author’s own. The Quint neither endorses nor is responsible for the same.)
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