Harsh Goenka counters Hotmail’s Sabeer Bhatia’s ‘anti-national’ post: ‘India doesn’t need sermons from…’
RPG Enterprises chairperson Harsh Goenka countered Hotmail co-founder Sabeer Bhatia’s “anti-national” post slamming the Indian government, and said that the country doesn’t need “sermons” for those who don’t live here.
In a heated exchange of words, Goenka said the billion Indians who stayed back in the country love it and are willing to “fix what’s broken.”
What did Sabeer Bhatia say?
In an X post, Sabeer Bhatia claimed that questioning elected leaders over issues of national interest, including women’s safety, inflated economic numbers, lost aircraft, and more, will get the person an “anti-national” tag.
“Say India is unsafe for women – you’re anti-national. Question inflated economic numbers – you’re anti-national. Call out elected leaders’ lies – you’re anti-national. Mention lost aircraft – you’re anti-national,” he said.
“So if truth = anti-national… then who’s a national? The one who lies to you?” he added.
How did Harsh Goenka react?
Offended by Bhatia’s accusation, Harsh Goenka slammed the techie for living in California, US, and lecturing Indians back home.
“Living in California and lecturing a billion Indians back home? We live here. We vote, work, pay taxes. We love this country- and we’ll fix what’s broken,” he said.
“India doesn’t need sermons from those who packed up and left,” Goenka added.
Here’s how netizens reacted:
Social media users were not very impressed by Harsh Goenka’s criticism of Sabeer Bhatia and said that loving the country alone is not enough. They also said that if someone is “showing a mirror, we should be glad.”
“Nothing is perfect in this world-neither you nor I. We love our country-no doubt about it, but we also want it to grow and command the respect of the world. We will do anything that takes it-that should be the promise of every Indian. Not empty slogans but real work,” a user said.
“In that case, you also stop taking any kind of help from foreign countries. Stop all your export and import because you have a billion plus indians back home to help your businesses. Don’t be a puppet of the government. Accept the criticism and try to overcome it,” added another.
A netizen said, “I think it’s better to criticise staying out of India rather bragging or boasting in the name of Indian diaspora living in other countries. Another advantage is, ED and CBI will not come. If NRI says wrong, I too condemn, of course they are not participating in elections.”
“Sir, people in India can’t talk against its government, so if someone is doing that from outside, showing mirror we should be glad. It’s much better than that howdy lowdy whatever,” added another.
