Published On : Fri, Oct 23rd, 2015

V K Singh’s delayed apology over ‘Dog’ remark cuts no ice with opposition

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New Delhi/Nagpur: Yesterday Former Army chief, now Minister V.K. Singh did it again! Put his foot in his mouth and made an outrageous comment in context of dalit children’s deaths in Haryana.

Minister of state V K Singh’s ill-phrased comment that the government cannot be held responsible if a stone is thrown at a dog – in the context of the murder of two dalit children in Faridabad – inviting a storm of criticism from opposition parties including AAP. They all began vociferously demanding his immediate resignation.

The issue resonated in Bihar as well where RJD chief Lalu Prasad came down heavily on the minister and BJP at a time when the NDA feels a significant section of dalits are finally moving towards it.

Singh made the controversial remarks when he was in Ghaziabad, his Lok Sabha constituency. Referring to the Faridabad incident in which two children were burnt alive on the night of October 19-20, he said that it was a case of personal feud perhaps also an administrative lapse. He then said, “For everything…like if somebody throws a stone at a dog, then the government is responsible…it is not like that.”

The dog analogy immediately provoked demands for his ouster with the AAP seeking the registration of a criminal case under the Scheduled Castes Prevention of Atrocities Act.

First Singh tried to defend his remarks, but by late evening he apologized for them. Sources said his fuller apology came after BJP chief Amit Shah spoke to him.

This was his round about apology :”I will be very clear on this that in case, because of this mixing up of two things, which someone else has done, if somebody’s feelings have been hurt, I am apologizing for it. Because some people have created a totally different picture altogether, which was never there. I had no intention of hurting anybody. Because of this imaginative linking of somebody if somebody’s feelings have been hurt, I apologize whole-heartedly,” Singh told media before flying to Thailand on a ministerial assignment.

In its regular briefing, the BJP supported Singh and said the matter should not be blown out of proportion as he had already condemned the incident. “As far as statement of the minister V K Singh is concerned, he has himself given a clarification of the same…I think we should not blow the whole thing out of proportion,” BJP spokesperson Sambit Patra said. “This is nothing but frustration on the part of those who are giving this incident a caste colour. This is very insensitive. We condemn it,” the BJP’s ​Srikant Sharma said.