Union Minister of women and child development, Smriti Irani has come under fire over her comment on the Global Hunger Index and how it is surveyed in India.
Irani recently said during an event that the GHI in India is calculated by calling up people and asking them if they are hungry.
Irani's take on GHI
"How do they build that index? 3000 people from a country of 140 crore get a phone call from Gallup and they are asked, 'Are you hungry'?" she said.
"Now trust me, I have left my house in Delhi in the morning at 4. I caught a flight at 5 to go to Kochi. I did a conclave there, caught a flight at 5 o'clock to come to this programme.
"By the time I get to anything called food, it will be 10 o'clock. If you have called me anytime in the day today and asked are you hungry, I'll say 'Oh yes, I am'," Irani said at a FICCI event on 'Future Role Of Women In India' at a meeting at Taj Deccan in Hyderabad.
But her comments have not gone down well with the opposition parties and netizens as they took to social media to slam the BJP leader.
Opposition parties slam BJP leader
“I don’t know what’s more shameful - your level of ignorance or your insensitivity at display here?
“You are the Women and Child Development Minister in the Government of India - it’s appalling to hear you. Frankly, you are an embarrassment!” Congress spokesperson Supriya Shrinate said in a social media post.
“And please don’t make a mockery of hunger - you are an extremely powerful and entitled woman, a minister in the Government of India for heaven’s sake! There are enough and more meals available on the flights you board and the places you visit,” Shrinate added.
Shiv Sena UBT leader Priyanka Chaturvedi also took to X to troll Irani.
“Hardly having the time to eat= Hardly having food to eat” “If arrogance had a face, it would be Mantriji,” Priyanka tweeted.
