Be “extra-careful” while making statements on sensitive issues, says Rajnath Singh

New Delhi: Ministers and leaders should be “extra careful” while making statements on sensitive issues and they cannot later on get away merely by saying that they were “misinterpreted”, union Home Minister Rajanth Singh said on Friday.

The statement of Rajnath Singh, without naming anybody, came in the wake of controversies over the remarks of union ministers V.K. Singh and Kiren Rijiju on Dalit killings in Haryana and north Indians respectively.

The home minister told the media when asked about V.K. Singh’s use of an analogy of a dog on Thursday, “One should choose his words carefully before making any statement on a sensitive issue,”  while talking about the death of two Dalit children in an arson attack in Haryana.

He said, “We can’t get away by saying that (our) statement was misinterpreted. We need to be extra careful while putting forth our views”.

Asked about the brutal killings of the two children by the upper caste men, the former army chief said: “If someone throws stones at a dog, the government is not responsible. It was a feud between two families, the matter in under inquiry…. The failure of the administration should not be blamed on the government.”

On Wednesday, Minister of State for Home Affairs Kiren Rijiju said that people of north India generally enjoyed violating the law and rules.

Rijiju said, “I was witness to a statement made by one of Delhi’s former lieutenant governors. He had stated that the people of north India enjoy breaking the rules and by evening he was forced to apologize. But I believe what he said was right”.

V.K.Singh and Rijiju later apologized for their remarks.