Dog remark: VK Singh hits back, questions Oppn

Under attack in Parliament over his “dog” analogy, Union Minister VK Singh on Friday said he was aghast at witnessing a “game of cat and mouse” in the Rajya Sabha and accused the Congress and the party’s vice-president Rahul Gandhi of resorting to “cheap political wrangling”.

On a day when the Congress and the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) disrupted proceedings in the Rajya Sabha on the remarks made by former Army chief, Singh said those who are targeting him were becoming “laughing stock” and trained his guns on a section of media, alleging that they were indulging in “supari journalism”.

“My expectation was that the Rajya Sabha would dedicate itself wholly to the nation’s welfare going beyond narrow- mindedness. But my belief got drastically hurt when I found members of the Rajya Sabha involved in a narrow game of cat and mouse, describing which is painful to me. It was beyond my imagination that there are some members in the Rajya Sabha who resembled forces from whom we were told in our childhood to keep away from,” he said in a Facebook post.

Opposition parties, including the Congress and the BSP, have been demanding his dismissal from the government over his controversial “dog” analogy after the killing of two Dalit children in Haryana.

After the burning of a Dalit family in Haryana, in which two children had died, Singh had said that “the Centre cannot be blamed if somebody throws a stone at a dog”.

Singh said efforts are on to deliberately create misunderstanding for political gains.

“Most of the people of the country understand it except those who for petty political reasons want to deliberately create misunderstanding like some journos who indulge in Supari Journalism (sic),” he wrote in the post.

“The impression also was that the heir apparent having lost the plot and seeing the mood of people was trying to fire the gun from the shoulders of champions of self-styled votaries of Dalit Cause that is belied by their own personal misconduct,” Singh said.

The former Army Chief said people involved in such “political gamesmanship” were becoming “laughing stocks” in the eyes of large sections of people in the country.

“I could not believe, that comprehension has become such a serious deficiency on account of cheap political wrangling. Even in wild imagination my ‘dog analogy for government not being responsible for every incident’ being taken as a remark against any human is a travesty of intelligence,” the MoS for External Affairs said.

Attending the Rajya Sabha was a “revelation” for him as he witnessed “petty political one-upmanship” of some members against his impression that the Upper House comprised of elders and people with full of wisdom, Singh further said.

“This belief of mine got a jolt when I witnessed that for Petty Political one-upmanship some members behaved in a manner that defies description. I could not believe, that comprehension has become such a serious deficiency on account of cheap political wranglings," he said.