Earlier, in a reply to debate on Assam riots in the Lok Sabha, he used the word “terrorist” instead of “territorial” for Bodoland Territorial Administration District
Home Minister Sushilkumar Shinde’s yet another gaffe, that the coal block allocations issue will soon fade away from public memory like the Bofors controversy did, has not only landed him in trouble but has also embarrassed the Congress party.
Even though Shinde’s tone was sarcastic and he later clarified it was done in a lighter vein, there were few takers, as Opposition parties blasted him. Curiously, the Congress party was silent on Shinde’s remarks with party spokesperson Rashid Alvi saying he needs to check with Shinde before reacting to the home minister’s remark. Despite repeated attempts, Shinde was not reachable.
Since Shinde was appointed as home minister in August, he has been in news for slips up and gaffes. In his maiden reply to debate on Assam riots in Lok Sabha, he used the word “terrorist” instead of “territorial” for Bodoland Territorial Administration District (BTAD) which caused mirth in the Opposition benches.
Again, Shinde was forced to eat his own words and apologise in the Rajya Sabha after he told Samajwadi Party member and yesteryears movie star Jaya Bachchan that the Assam issue was a serious matter and not the subject of a film. Jaya Bachchan objected to Shinde’s remarks.
However, Shinde later said if Jaya was hurt by his remarks he heartily apologises for that. Shinde went on to add that Jaya was his sister and he knew the entire Bachchan family and had great respect for them.
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On the politically contentious Telangana issue, Shinde linked the demand to the Maoist menace, citing the examples of Jharkhand and Chhattisgarh. “Those states, carved out earlier from Bihar and Madhya Pradesh, were small in size and the Naxal problem has increased there.”
In other gaffe, Shinde claimed that many foreign groups, including the Lashkar-e-Tayyeba, were supporting the Maoists and that India’s economic growth “was good” and was “increasing”.
Meanwhile, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) took a strong exception on Shinde’s ‘short public memory’ comment. Party leader Balbir Punj slammed Shinde for his careless remark saying his attitude was similar to that of late Rajiv Gandhi post the Bofors scam.
Further, Shiv Sena, a partner in the BJP-led Opposition, the National Democratic Alliance (NDA), also attacked Shinde saying that he had told the truth to the public. Sena executive president Uddhav Thackeray said it has been the policy of the Congress to do all scams and get elected to power. Uddhav, while addressing a morcha against fuel price rise exhorted his party members that the time has come to unseat the Congress-led government. He dared UPA allies, the Nationalist Congress Party and Trinamool Congress, to pull out of the government on the issue of fuel rise and foreign direct investment (FDI).
NDA convenor Sharad Yadav had earlier advised Shinde not to make political comments and instead restrict himself to home ministry.