“Besides being misogynistic, this statement reeks of wanting to be the new age slave drivers of India,” Chaturvedi posted on social platform X.

What L&T chairman said?

Larsen and Toubro chairman SN Subrahmanyan triggered an online outrage with his remark, asking people to work for 90 hours a week.

“I regret I am not able to make you work on Sundays. If I can make you work on Sundays, I will be more happy, because I work on Sundays,” PTI quoted Subrahmanyan as saying in an undated video circulating on social media.

“What do you do sitting at home? How long can you stare at your wife? How long can the wives stare at their husbands? Come on, get to the office and start working,” he added.

The company in a statement issued a clarification on Subrahmanyan’s remarks, calling it in the context of “extraordinary efforts required for achieving extraordinary outcomes for the nation”.

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“We believe this is India’s decade, a time demanding collective dedication and effort to drive progress and realise our shared vision of becoming a developed nation. The chairman’s remarks reflect this larger ambition, emphasising that extraordinary effort,” L&T spokesperson said in a statement.

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People from all walks of life criticised the L&T chairman’s remark. Actor Deepika Padukone said,”And they just made it worse.”

Infosys co-founder Narayan Murthy, too, had a few months back advocated a 70-hour work week. “India’s work productivity is one of the lowest in the world… my request is that our youngsters must say, ‘this is my country, I want to work 70 hours a week’,” Murthy had said.

(With PTI inputs)