Sitharaman takes on Congress, Mamata in Lok Sabha

New Delhi: Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, during her reply on the discussion on the Union Budget in Lok Sabha on Friday, slammed the Congress and also took on West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee while imitating her "chhi-chhi" jibe.

Responding to the Opposition's charge that allocation for minorities' welfare had been reduced, Sitharaman criticised the Congress for the 1983 Nellie (Assam) massacre, when Indira Gandhi was the prime minister.

She took on the Congress by asking "when huge budget allocation was made for minorities that year, how did that incident happen?"

Sitharaman also referred to the anti-Sikh riots of 1984.

"Nellie chi, chi, chi... What happened in Nellie, that should be condemned with chi, chi, chi just like Mamata Banerjee's poem," she said.

Mamata's 'chhi-chhi' remark was during the agitations against the Citizenship (Amendment) Act, 2019, in a public rally.