Indian politicians are known to make foot-in-the-mouth statements. Though they initially attract a lot of flak, especially on social media, the news eventually dies down but the instant fame even a little-known lawmaker earns makes one wonder did they do it all for the sake of publicity.
While making such bizarre comments is not restricted to the politicians from a single political party, for some reason, they come more from the leaders of BJP.
Recently, a Rajasthan MLA made such claim. Gyan Dev Ahuja, who is elected from Ramgarh, stirred controversy a storm after he said Hindu god Hanuman was the "world's first tribal leader".
"First saint among the adivasis was Hanuman ji. When Lord Ram was on his way from Chitrakoot to the southern part of the country for the exile, Hanuman made his army of tribals and got training from Lord Ram," he added.
The list is endless but here we compiled some of such comments made by the BJP leaders.
Biplab Kumar Deb, Tripura Chief Minister
The newly elected Tripura chief minister is quite infamous for making controversial comments. He once said former Miss World Diana Hayden does not fit the class of Indian beauty.
"Even Diana Hayden got it (the world title). See, everyone is laughing. Tell me, was Diana Hayden supposed to get it? Aishwarya Rai got it. That's justified because she carries the essence of the beauty of Indian women. Indian beauty is all about Goddess Laxmi, Goddess Saraswati... Diana Hayden does not fit in to that class of beauty. I am not opposing her though," Deb said.
"International companies made prior plans to take over our Indian traditional products and consequently, we got Miss World from India five times. Any Indian contestant seemed to be able to take part in the Miss World contest and win the crown, even Diana Hayden got it. I am not criticising her but didn't find traits of Indian beauty in her," he added.
Satyapal Singh, Union Minister
The junior HRD minister in January "found" flaw in Darwin's theory of evolution.
"Nobody, including our ancestors, in written or oral, have said they saw an ape turning into a man.... Humans appeared on Earth as humans from the very beginning," he said.
Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank, former Uttarakhand CM
This BJP politician drew flak for saying how science is nothing compared to astrology.
"Science is a dwarf in front of astrology. Astrology is the biggest science. It is in fact above science. We should promote it. We speak about nuclear science today. But Sage Kanad conducted nuclear test one lakh years ago."
Vijay Rupani, Gujarat CM
During Devrshi Narad Jayanti, Rupani made a very strange analogy between sage Narada and Google while addressing in an event in April this year.
He said, "both [Google and Narada] know everything that is happening in the world. This is relevant in today's time that Narad was a man of information; who had information of the whole world he acted on these information collecting information was his dharma for the betterment of the humankind, and it is very much required. That is why he is accepted as Rushi — a person who works for benefit of people. He is often portrayed as snitching on people, but in reality, he only shared information for the welfare of people."
Vasudev Devnani, Rajasthan Education Minister
Devnani made this extremely peculiar claim in January 2017 while speaking at a programme organised by Akshaya Patra Foundation at Hingonia cow rehabilitation centre.
He said, "I read this fact on research websites and it recently appeared in a magazine of Akshaya Patra, saying that cow inhales and exhales oxygen and included this in my speech on Saturday. The Gaumutra's benefits and its medicinal values are well known and people use and take its benefits. The burning of cow dung makes the environment free of harmful micro-organisms and mosquitoes, making the place suitable for living."
