Senior BJP leader Yashwant Sinha, whose purported remarks against the Narendra Modi government on Saturday were used by the Opposition to attack the Centre, on Sunday contended that his remarks had be
Senior BJP leader Yashwant Sinha, whose purported remarks against the Narendra Modi government on Saturday were used by the Opposition to attack the Centre, on Sunday contended that his remarks had been “completely misunderstood” and misinterpreted. Mr Sinha denied that he made any reference to the Prime Minister.
However, the BJP’s Salempur MP Ravindra Kushwaha demanded Mr Sinha’s and Patna Sahib MP Shatrughan Sinha’s expulsion from the party for allegedly making baseless statements against the government and the party after they were not given ministerial berths.
Taking a dig at Mr Sinha, the Salempur MP said the former Union minister was “not satisfied” with his son Jayant Sinha being made Union minister of state for finance.
At a panel discussion in the “Difficult Dialogues” conference in Goa on Saturday, Mr Sinha was quoted as having said, “The people of India will consign him to the dust, you just have to wait for the next elections,” without naming Mr Modi. Mr Sinha on Sunday denied that he made any reference to the Prime Minister.
“It is complete misinterpretation. Anyone who has reported this, has completely misunderstood what I have said,” he said.
During the discussion, Mr Sinha was asked about the present-day culture of “I, me, myself” and what was the use for dialogue in such a case.
The former minister in the Atal Behari Vajpayee government replied that elected representatives, including to Parliament and Assemblies, have to continuously go back to the people who elect them.
Mr Sinha then referred to the Emergency of 1975 and said the country knew what happened to the “most concerted effort in our country to still the voice of dissent”.
“We all know how the people of India reacted. So, there would be aberrations here, aberrations there, we might be very concerned about the present situation because some of these things according to us are taking place....But the great Indian society will take care of it and will consign to the dust those who do not believe in dialogue in India. The people of India will consign him to the dust, you just have to wait for the next elections,” Mr Sinha had said on Saturday.
On Sunday he said the reference to Emergency has nothing to do with the present government.
