By: Talat Mohsin
#BoycottMillennials is trending in India after Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman blamed the auto industry slowdown to the changing mind sets of millennials.
According to her, it’s one of the major factors that’s attributing to the slump. She blamed the surging use of transportation apps for the slump. ANI quoted Sitharaman saying-“the automobile and components industry has been affected by BS-VI (norms) and the mind set of millennials, who now prefer to have Ola and Uber rather than committing to buying an automobile.” She also assured the citizens that the Government is doing everything in its power to single out the factors that are encouraging the slowdown.
The millennials took her statements to heart. Soon after her statement went viral, hashtags like #BoycottMillennials and #SayItLikeNirmala started trending on social media platforms, making the minister the talk of the town. Citizens took to social media to ridicule her statement and made memes out of it.
Millennials are the new Nehru… https://t.co/Gzx5e4BUi8
— Kunal Kamra (@kunalkamra88) September 10, 2019
Good example of nirmla tai…#SayItLikeNirmalaTai pic.twitter.com/ZRGrXifT4g
— Shaitan Nibbi (@Dom_girl07) September 10, 2019
Just confronted a millennial watching Stranger Things.
— Saket Gokhale (@SaketGokhale) September 11, 2019
I told the poor sod – u keep watching American TV & that’s why the dollar is getting expensive.
Made him promise that’ll he’ll only watch Mann Ki Baat henceforth.
Did my bit for the nation today. #BoycottMillennials
Wedding planners are out of work as millennials prefer live ins..😅#BoycottMillennials
— Saira Shah Halim سائرہ 🇮🇳 (@sairashahhalim) September 11, 2019
The auto industry slowdown has given a huge blow to the Indian economy. Over 15000 temporary workers have lost their jobs, while dealers have witnessed 2.8 lakh job losses with nearly 300 dealerships closing in the past 3-4 months, according to SIAM.