After presenting the 2021 Union Budget in Parliament on Monday (February 2), Finance Minister Sitharaman addressed a post-Budget press conference where she openly supported a female journalist saying, "Why did you say that only to her? You didn't stop the guys."
Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman patiently answered multiple questions to several reporters on the Budget for over an hour. Notably, her defense of a woman reporter has now grabbed the attention of netizens. The incident is going viral on social media bearing hashtags like "Empowered woman Empower Women".
Soon, after a few minutes elapsed during the press conference, a woman reporter stood up and mentioned she had two questions to ask the finance minister.
The chief of the Press Information Bureau immediately replied that she can ask only one question. "No, only one... others are there," said KS Dhatwalia.
To this, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said, "Why did you say that only to her? Why you didn't stop the guys?".
The interjection is available on Youtube and PIB official site. It is seen from the 49.45-minute mark in the video of the press conference dated February 01 (Monday).
Sitharaman's remark busted the whole room in laughter. The journalist also thanked FM Sitharaman for supporting her.
This Budget replaced the traditional 'Bahi Khata' custom with the smart tablet.
Sitharaman said that the preparation for this budget was like never before, because of Covid-19. "We could not have imagined last year that global economy which was already suffering will have to endure the loss of near and dear ones due to pandemic,".