Patna: A senior member of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s cabinet on Sunday created a major controversy by passing derogatory remarks against Congress president Rahul Gandhi, drawing strong protests from all major opposition parties.
Federal Minister of State for Health and Family Welfare Ashwini Kumar Choube hit out at Gandhi for questioning the Rafale military aircraft deal sealed by the Modi government.
“How does Rahul Gandhi look? Like a typical gutter worm,” Choube told the media in Bihar’s Sasaram town on Saturday.
He accused Gandhi of suffering from schizophrenia and asked him to apologise for his comments towards the prime minister.
The minister’s remarks come as the Congress party has called for a Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC) probe into the purchase of 36 Rafale jets from France.
The party has been alleging a scam by the Modi-government in signing the deal whereas the government maintains that the deal was signed in accordance with all the set procedures.
The Congress reacted bitterly over the issue saying it’s due to this quality that the minister continues in Narendra Modi cabinet. It said the masses will teach a lesson to such people in the coming elections.
“The minister is apparently reacting because Rahul Gandhi is exposing the shady Rafale deal and the connivance between the prime minister and industrialist Anil Ambani,” said Bihar Congress chief Kaukab Qadari.
He said by passing such remarks against Gandhi in public, the minister himself has exposed his real character.
“I strongly condemn this,” he added.
Congress spokesperson and lawmaker Prem Chandra Mishra questioned the standards of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) for appointing such a person as minister and then allowing him to continue in the role despite routinely spewing “hate speech”.
“He has been making statements in public for a long time, but what is more shocking to note is that the party has been promoting such persons,” Mishra said, adding, “He managed to get the Cabinet berth just because of such controversial statements”.
The Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) also condemned Choube’s remarks.
“It is very saddening that the man continues to be in the Narendra Modi cabinet despite making such remarks,” RJD parliamentarian Manoj Jha said.
This is not the first time that Choube had triggered controversy.
Last year, the federal minister accused people from his home state of Bihar of crowding the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS), New Delhi adding he had directed the doctors to send them back home.
“People of Bihar have been flocking to AIIMS, Delhi for even minor ailments, which can be treated at home too. This has put pressure there and I have directed the doctors to send such patients back home,” Choube told the media in October last year.
Again in 2015, he had also passed derogatory remarks against Congress president Sonia Gandhi, terming her as “Putana”, a mythological demon woman.
Earlier in 2012, when Choube was serving as the health minister of Bihar, he threatened to chop the hands off striking doctors.
