After raising question to Amit Shah, Rahul Bajaj faces heat from Union Ministers

Bajaj, while speaking in front of Union Home Minister and Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) president Amit Shah, at an event on Saturday said, "..You are doing good work but if we criticise you there is no confidence that you will appreciate that,"  "In UPA 2 we could criticise anyone," he added.

Immediately denying Bajaj's claim, Shah had said as quoted in media, "There's no need to be afraid of anything. The Narendra Modi government has been criticised continuously in media. But if you are saying that there is such an environment, we need to work to improve this." 

Taking cue from Shah's comment, Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said in a tweet, "Home Minister @AmitShah answers on how issues raised by Shri. Rahul Bajaj were addressed. Questions/criticisms are heard and answered/addressed. Always a better way to seek an answer than spreading one’s own impressions which, on gaining traction, can hurt national interest. "

Hardeep Singh Puri, the Union Minister for Housing and Urban Affairs, Civil Aviation, tweeted, "That Mr Rahul Bajaj could stand up to Sh @AmitShah Ji's face, express himself freely & instigate others to join him clearly indicate that freedom of expression & democratic values are alive & flourishing in India. This is exactly what democracy is all about. "

Assam Minister and BJP leader, Himanta Biswa Sarma, tweeted, "#RahulBajaj Ji, perhaps no PM in Indian history has been as tolerant to criticism as Sri @narendramodi. Little wonder he has openly responded to your anxiety! You are a very respected industrialist and we expect such you to guide us to build a #NewIndia"

Bajaj had made the comment a day after India's Gross Domestic Product (GDP) fell further in the second quarter of 2019-2020 fiscal year from earlier 5 per cent to 4.5%.