Rajnath snubs mins, says can’t get away by saying statements twisted

Home Minister Rajnath Singh on Friday ticked off Union Ministers VK Singh and Kiren Rijiju for their controversial statements and said they can’t get away by saying that they were misinterpreted.

“We can’t get away by saying that statements were misinterpreted or twisted. We need to be extra careful while putting forth our views,” he said.

The Home Minister’s snub came a day after MoS External Affairs VK Singh said that the Centre could not be blamed if somebody throws a stone at a ‘dog’ in connection with the killing of two Dalit children in Faridabad, which sparked an outrage. 

MoS for Home Kiren Rijiju had also drawn flak on Wednesday after he said that he agreed with a former LG of Delhi, who had once remarked that North Indians “take pride in and enjoy” breaking rules. 

“I feel that as leaders of the ruling party, all of us should be extra cautious while making any statement,” the Home Minister said.

Rajnath said ministers and Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leaders must ensure that their statements were reflected in proper perspective and no wrong message is communicated through them. “We should also ensure that there is no possibility of our statements to be interpreted in the wrong way or send an incorrect message,” he said.

Singh said his Ministerial colleagues – VK Singh and Kiren Rijiju – had already given a clarification on their statement and matters should come to end.

VK Singh’s statement kicked up a controversy when he tried to shield the government from blame in the Faridabad Dalit burning incident, saying that the “government cannot be held responsible if somebody stones a dog”. The dog analogy provoked demands for his ouster by the Opposition, which sought registration of a criminal case against him under the Scheduled Castes Prevention of Atrocities Act.

Later, he gave a clarification saying that his remarks were misinterpreted. He asked the media not to twist words out of context.