New Delhi: Under fire for citing cinema box-office collections to negate economic slowdown in the country, Union Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad on Sunday withdrew his statement.
The minister clarified that he made the comment as he was in Mumbai, which is the film capital of India and "provides employment to lakhs of people and contributes significantly by way of taxes".
At a press conference in Mumbai on Saturday, Prasad was asked to comment on the economic slowdown.
The Minister replied: "I was Information and Broadcasting minister in former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee's government and I am fond of movies."
"Movies have been doing huge business. Three movies were released on October 2 and film critic Komal Nahta told me that the national holiday saw them earning Rs 120 crore", he said.
"Rs 120 crore comes in a country in one day. It shows the country has a sound economy", he had said.
While Congress called the remark "ill-informed" and "insensitive", the social media was quick to train its guns on the Minister, whose name was also among the top trends on Twitter.
"Lakhs of people who have lost their jobs, thousands of businessmen who had to shut down their trade, & countless investors who have lost their life's savings due to recession now have nothing to worry about because 3 movies earned Rs 120 cr on Oct 2!", Shama Mohamed of Congress wrote on Twitter.
"When biscuit sales decline Ravi Shankar Prasad says nothing. When car sales decline Ravi Shankar Prasad sticks to making grand announcements. When underwear sales decline Ravi Shankar Prasad looks away. Movie tickets sell well for a day and he’s like, slowdown? What slowdown?" Shivam Vij, a journalist, wrote on the social media said.
"Being a sensitive person, I withdraw this comment," said Prasad on Sunday but alleged that it was "completely twisted out of context."
"My comments made yesterday in Mumbai about three films making Rs 120 crore in a single day -- the highest ever -- was a factually correct statement", a statement released by his office said.
Recently, Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman too was slammed for her Uber and Ola taxi comments.
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