Giriraj barb at Sonia: PM must sack minister, apologise to nation, says Congress

New Delhi, Apr 1: Congress today demanded an apology from Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the immediate dismissal of Union Minister Giriraj Singh over his racist barb at Sonia Gandhi asking whether the party would have accepted her leadership "if she was not white-skinned".

"Congress strongly deprecates and condemns the intemperate and distasteful remarks of Union Minister, Shri Giriraj Singh, bordering on insanity... Prime Minister must dismiss such a minister and apologise to the nation," said the party's communication department in-charge, Randeep Surjewala.

In a strongly-worded statement slamming the comments, Surjewala said it appeared that the continuous quest to appease Prime Minister Narendra Modi had made Singh "lose his balance".

Claiming that such remarks were reflective of the "lack of moral fibre" in BJP and among its cadre, he recalled that Singh is known for making controversial comments.

"In the run-up to the 2014 parliamentary elections, he asked everybody opposing Modi to leave India and go to Pakistan.

"Perhaps he is the only person who refused to reclaim Rs 1.14 crore of currency as also US dollars recovered by police after apprehending those who had committed a theft in his house," Surjewala charged, adding that "for conduct of this nature, he (Singh) was rewarded by Prime Minister by appointing him as a Minister in Union Cabinet".

The Modi Cabinet and the BJP MPs appear to outdo each other in this "boisterously shameful conduct", the Congress leader further said even as he recalled Sadhvi Niranjan Jyoti's "Raamzada vs Haraamzada" remarks during the recent Delhi Assembly elections.

Singh, the minister of state for micro, small and medium enterprises, kicked up another controversy by his remarks that "If Rajiv Gandhi would have married a Nigerian woman and if she was not a white-skinned woman, then would the Congress have accepted her leadership?"

The minister, who has courted controversy over his comments in the past, also mocked Congress Vice President Rahul Gandhi's absence from the political scene and likened him to the "missing Malaysian airliner".

PTI