Minister of State for Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises Giriraj Singh’s controversial comment on Congress president Sonia Gandhi's “skin colour” led to a flurry of criticism on Wednesday, forcing BJP president Amit Shah to caution the controversial Minister. Mr. Shah is learnt to have asked the MP to refrain from using such language, following which Mr. Singh expressed regret for his comments.
Mr. Singh was reported to have remarked that “had Rajiv Gandhi married a Nigerian woman and had she not been of white skin, would the Congress party have accepted her as a leader?” He also took a dig at the Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi’s long disappearance. “Rahul Gandhi aise gayab ho gaye hain jaise Malaysian airline (Rahul Gandhi has disappeared like the missing Malaysian airline),” said the Minister, considered close to Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
An outraged Congress said the Minister’s “intemperate and distasteful remarks border on insanity.”
BJP lacks moral fibre: Congress
Reacting to Mr. Singh’s controversial comments, Congress spokesperson Randeep Singh Surjewala said in a statement: “It appears that [the] continuous quest to appease Prime Minister Narendra Modi has made him lose his balance. Such remarks are reflective of the lack of moral fibre in the BJP and its cadre.”
The Congress also attacked the BJP for failing to rein in its senior party members who have been making such offensive remarks. “The current Modi Cabinet and BJP MPs appear to outdo each other in this boisterously shameful conduct,” Mr. Surjewala said. He was referring to Sadhvi Niranjan Jyoti’s ‘Ramzada’ vs. Haraamzada’ remarks during the Delhi elections.
“Sakshi Maharaj, another prominent BJP leader and member of its National Executive, recently called Mahatma Gandhi’s killer Nathuram Godse as a martyr and a great nationalist besides asking [Hindu] women to produce 12 children. Another Union Minister, V.K. Singh, has in the past almost branded the Indian Army Chief as a criminal and has recently again expressed disgust through twitter in performing his duties as Minister,” Mr. Surjewala said.
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