Madhya Pradesh: Minister sees conspiracy in blowing up of his ‘army of beggars’ remark

Bhopal: Madhya Pradesh rural development and panchayat raj minister Prahlad Patel on Monday saw a ‘conspiracy’ in blowing up of his recent remarks calling upon his community people to become conscious of their self-pride by not begging before the government, in the media and said, ‘It will unravel in future’.

Mr. Patel came out with a clarification as the issue snowballed into a controversy, saying that he had made the statement at a social platform and it was a communication to his community members by him.

“I always tell my community members (Lodhis) that they should become conscious of their self-pride and not beg before the government. It is not wrong to instill self-pride in a society. It was a social platform where I addressed my community members. It was not a political platform. Even some Congress leaders were present on the occasion”, he told reporters.

Mr. Patel, while addressing a public meeting at Sutalia in Rajgarh district in Madhya Pradesh on Saturday, had lamented that people come to greet the leaders with garlands when the latter visit their areas and then shove applications containing their demands at their hands, like an army of beggars.

Such a practice is not good for a society, he had said.

A video in which he was heard making the remarks had gone viral on social media.

He said the way his statement was twisted in the media to give it a political colour was not appropriate.

Mr. Patel also slammed state Congress president Jitu Patwari for attacking BJP and the BJP leadership over his statement, saying that the party or the leadership has nothing to do with his remarks.

He also dared Mr. Patwari to take action against Congress leaders who shared dais with him while he was addressing the meeting.