Trolled Over GDP Remark, BJP MP Demands Curbs On Social Media

Trolled over his remark that Gross Domestic Product figures would lose their relevance in time, BJP MP Nishikant Dubey on Tuesday urged the centre to frame laws barring people from making objectionable remarks on parliamentarians on social media. The politician claimed in the Lok Sabha that personal attacks were made against him, and asked Speaker Om Birla to protect him and other lawmakers in the house.

"I seek your protection sir (Lok Sabha Speaker). When the Constitution was made it was mentioned in Article 105 and 105 (2) that whatever would be discussed in the House, the reporting of the matter would be proper, and any member would be free to put his point without any fear and partiality. Social media and breaking news were not there when Article 105 was made," he was quoted by news agency IANS as saying in parliament.

"I personally urge the government through you (Lok Sabha Speaker) that a law should be made to ban social media to stop such activities," he added.

Mr Dubey, MP from Jharkhand's Godda constituency, while participating in a discussion on a bill on Monday, had said the GDP was not the ultimate truth.

"GDP came in 1934; there was no GDP before that. (Economist Simon) Kuznet said it is not the ultimate truth to believe the GDP as Bible, Ramayan or Mahabharat. In the future, GDP will not be of much use as an economic indicator," he had said.

He was trolled for the remark on Twitter.

Our GDP growth rate may have dropped to 4.5%. But look at the positive side. It's still higher than Nishikant Dubey's IQ.

— PuNsTeR™ (@Pun_Starr) December 2, 2019

Nishikant Dubey said, "GDP came in existence in 1934. It's now 85 years old so it wouldn't be important in future"
Now Logic is, H₂O came into existence in 1811,It is 208 year old now so Mr.Nishikant should stop drinking water in future bcz of no use@aajtak @shivanigandhi25 pic.twitter.com/TcIssO3hmP

— aman saini (@Expert22Aman) December 2, 2019

#Nishikantdubey
A BJP MP in Lok Sabha said that GDP didn't exist before 1934, don't consider it as a Holly book and in future, it seems not be used as much as present.
Are they considering that we are extremely stupid ?@psinghrdx @abhayparihar01

— Karan singh (@Karanbaghel_09) December 2, 2019

Mr Dubey today explained his remarks in parliament during the Zero hour.

"In his report, Kuznets had himself accepted in 1934 that he was not happy with his GDP concept. A discussion is going on over the issue in the whole world".

"I have come up with a report of a committee made in 2008 by then French President Nicolas Sarkozy in which Amartya Sen, Prof Joseph Keith and Chin Paul were present. They all had also said the same observations in their reports what Simon Kuznets said in 1934," he said.

He said he had made the remark in parliament based on logic and evidence but he was still abused on social media.

This is not the first instance of a politician coming under attack on social media. Last year, Shiv Sena leader Priyanka Chaturvedi, who was with the Congress then, was threatened on social media. Before that, Union Minister Sushma Swaraj had been the target of offensive tweets.

With inputs from IANS