America
V.K. Singh triggers new row, says intolerance debate paid for
Los Angeles, Nov 16 India's Minister of State for External Affairs V.K. Singh has stirred a new controversy by suggesting that the ongoing debate on tolerance in India was a creation of "imaginative" minds of those "who are paid".
"Like a small incident of theft in a church that was depicted as an attack on the church, the same is (the case with) this intolerance debate," the former army chief told reporters on Sunday on the sidelines of the Regional Pravasi Bharatiya Divas here.
Standing in for External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj, who returned to New Delhi midway after Friday's terrorist attacks in Paris, V.K. Singh also suggested that the current debate was motivated by the Bihar elections that the BJP-led NDA lost.
"You decide whether this is paid for or not. This particular debate (on intolerance) is no debate. It is the unnecessary creation of very imaginative minds who are being paid a lot of money," said the minister who had once called the media "presstitutes".
"I do not want to comment on how the Indian media works. And I will take you back to all the funny things that are being talked about intolerance," he said.
"When the Delhi elections took place, suddenly we found a spate of articles and a lot of hysteria that was created that churches are being attacked, the Christian community is being isolated etc.," he said.
"Whether it was paid or not paid, I do not know. That's a decision or opinion that you have to make," he said.
"I am just giving you the facts. The day that election was over, all the hoopla was gone.
"The same is (the case with) this intolerance debate. The moment the Bihar elections are over, everything is gone," he said.
"Have these people got any moral authority to even speak anything? So let's not unnecessarily confuse ourselves with what is happening and the lesson is for the Indian media," he said.
10 hours ago
J&K ex-Deputy CM Gupta slams Mehbooba Mufti for halting campaign over Hezbollah chief's death
12 hours ago
Russia condemns Israeli killing of Hezbollah leader
14 hours ago
Bihar flood situation critical amid heavy rain, says Shahnawaz Hussain
14 hours ago
Agniveers will be given a pensionable job: Amit Shah
14 hours ago
Israel bans gatherings of over 1,000 people in central region
14 hours ago
After Nasrallah, IDF confirms killing top Hezbollah commander Nabil Qaouk
14 hours ago
PDP's sympathies lie with terrorists, not nation: BJP slams party for halting poll campaign
14 hours ago
BJP's seat-sharing agreement for Jharkhand polls in final stage
14 hours ago
Sri Lankan Navy arrests 17 TN fishermen; families block Madurai-Rameswaram highway
14 hours ago
PM Modi praises Odisha youth for developing digital platform for Santhali language
14 hours ago
Won't die till PM Modi 'removed' from power, vows Kharge after illness amid J&K campaigning
14 hours ago
Prakash Karat to coordinate politburo functioning in CPI-M till next party congress
15 hours ago
NASA-SpaceX mission to bring back Sunita Williams on way to ISS