NEW DELHI: #Oversight drew mirth and protests to become a Twitter trend on Thursday. Among those who tweeted using the hashtag were Rahul Gandhi and former finance ministers P Chidambaram and Yashwant Sinha, who mock-lamented that he had lost monopoly of the term, “rollback”.
The comments started coming thick and fast after finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman tweeted around 8am on Thursday, “Interest rates of small savings schemes of GoI shall continue to be at the rates which existed in the last quarter of 2020-2021, ie, rates that prevailed as of March 2021. Orders issued by oversight shall be withdrawn.” #Oversight was one of the top trends with over 16k tweets around 4pm. Some users also pointed out the irony of reversal on April 1, known as All Fool’s Day.
Chidambaram wrote, “The BJP government had decided to launch another assault on the middle class by slashing the interest rates and profiting itself. When caught, the FM is putting forward the lame excuse of “inadvertent error”. Announcement of interest rates on savings instruments for the next quarter is a regular exercise. There is nothing “inadvertent” about its release on 31st March.”
Congress leader Rahul Gandhi posted, “There was already a loot on petrol and diesel. Now, as soon as the elections will be over, the interest on small savings will reduce, making the middle class suffer again. Jumlo ki jhoot ki, ye sarkar janta se loot ki (This government only loots the public and diverts attention by making fake promises!) #Oversight.”
Congress’ Salman Soz imitating the manner in which the circular was issued, made a surprise statement. “I am joining BJP,” he wrote at 9.20am. Half an hour later, he clarified, “This tweet was due to an oversight. It is withdrawn,” he posted at 9.48am.