Govt schemes should be named as 'Sit-down India', 'Shut-down India' and 'Shut-up India': Shashi Tharoor

Taking a dig at the Centre's BJP government and its handling of various issues over the last six years, Congress leader Shashi Tharoor on Tuesday said that government schemes should be named "Sit-down India", "Shut-down India" and "Shut-up India", in a sarcastic reference to various government schemes such as 'Start-up India', 'Make in India', 'Skill India' etc.

"Lip service was paid to 'Skill India', 'Digital India' and 'Start-up India'. But there was no mention of 'Stand-up India' as you are so busy banning stand-up comedians. Government schemes should really be named as Sit-down India, Shutdown India and Shut-up India," Tharoor said in the Lok Sabha.

The Congress leader's remarks came in criticism to the government's handling of economy and its alleged suppression of the dissent, particularly in the context of ongoing protests against the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) and the proposed NRC.

Earlier on February 1, Tharoor had said that the Union Budget 2020-21, presented by Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman in Parliament, was a "Sit-down India Budget".

"I thought the speech was far too long. It was as long as a complete T20 match, but much less exciting than that... In fact the first hour and a half I would say we saw nothing. We saw the same old empty slogans being recited," Tharoor had said.

"There is something really weak about the attention being paid to the agriculture sector and welfare. I am not excited about this budget at all. I think in many ways that after the slogan of Stand-up India, it is now a sit-down India Budget," he further said.