Nirmala Guilty Of Not ‘Knowing Her Onions'

The Finance Minister could have handled the Lok Sabha debate on rising onion prices with a bit of tact and wit

- D Sampathkumar

Whether Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman’s kitchen contains onions (Egyptian or our own Bellary variety) or not, is something we would never really know. But we can safely say that the Minister didn’t ‘know her onions’ of Parliamentary debate while responding to questions on the rising prices of onions! And, in the process, found herself right in the midst of a huge social media storm, much to her discomfiture.

She had before her hundreds of examples of answers to Parliamentary questions that her civil servants had helped draft on various issues relating to her ministry. If she had carefully analysed them she would have noticed an important feature of these answers. Which is: Never reveal to members asking questions, an iota of extra information than what can be got away by way of an answer, without risking a motion of ‘breach of privilege’ from a member dissatisfied with the answer.

Most of the time, the answers are short and strictly to the point and nothing is furnished by way of further elucidation. The bureaucrats are not in the business of enlightening Members of Parliament. They are only in the business of drafting answers to questions. If these answers are short on enlightenment well, that can’t be helped. It is just the way things are. You can’t go wrong with that approach.