Home minister Amit Shah said there is no need to fear about anything after industrialist and Bajaj Group chairperson Rahul Bajaj said there is an atmosphere of fear and people are afraid to criticise the government and do not have the confidence that the government will appreciate any criticism.

Share Market Live

NSE

Bajaj's comments come the day after India's Gross Domestic Product (GDP) growth fell to at 4.5 percent, the lowest in at least six-and-half years.

Shah said the government is working in the most transparent manner and that the government tries to improve depending on whether the criticism has any merit.

>> 3 other instances when Rahul Bajaj spoke his mind

In his comments, Bajaj raised the issue of Bhopal MP Pragya Singh Thakur’s controversial comment on Wednesday praising Nathuram Godse, the assassin of Mahatma Gandhi. “Is there a doubt who shot Gandhi?… I don’t know,” Bajaj said.

Shah responded that the government and Bharatiya Janata Party strongly condemned Thakur’s remarks. Shah added that Defence Minister Rajnath Singh has already condemned her remarks and the party has taken action against her.

The BJP barred Thakur from attending its parliamentary party meeting in the ongoing session and removed her from the consultative committee on defence. Prime Minister Narendra Modi had earlier said that he would never forgive Thakur for insulting Mahatma Gandhi by calling his assassin Nathuram Godse a true patriot.

The home minister also asked people from the industry to visit the Valley with family and assess the real situation.

"As home minister of the country, I am urging you to please visit Kashmir. Situation is normal there, you will see," he added. As far as the timeline for removing restriction on internet, the minister said that as this is a law and order issue, the local administration would take decision in this regard. Further, he said that today only 630 people are in jail and out of that, less than 112 are political prisoners.

(With inputs from PTI)

First Published:Dec 1, 2019 11:49 AM IST