‘Widower’ Modi will one day seek wife from people:Congress minister

Ranchi, 31 December 2013

Jharkhand Disaster Management Minister Mannan Malick has courted controversy with his alleged obscene and objectionable remarks against Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi. Malick is one of two Muslims MLAs of Congress party in Jharkhand.

BJP’s prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi, now seeking iron scrap from the people for the Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel statue, will one day seek a wife from the common people, a Jharkhand minister said on Monday, creating a political row.

“Earlier, the BJP were seeking bricks (to build the temple in Ayodhya). Now Modi is seeking iron (for the Patel statue). Later, he will seek gold, and a time will come when he will seek a wife from the people. Modi is a ‘bewa’ (widower),” Animal Husbandry and Fisheries Minister Mannan Mallick told reporters in Dhanbad.

Terming it as “obscene remarks”, BJP state unit president Ravindra Rai said, “The Women’s Commission should take suo motu notice against him. The minister and his Congress party should issue an apology.”

BJP’s Dhanbad unit burnt an effigy of Mallick today in protest against the remarks aimed at Narendra Modi, who has urged people to donate a piece of iron to build the statue of Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel.

Distancing from the remarks, Jharkhand PCC general secretary Sailesh Sinha said, “It is his remarks. But one should think before speaking even against opposition leaders. It has come to the notice of PCC president Sukhdeo Bhagat.”