"I did participate in the Mahishasur event in JNU and did express my views. I have been going on various platforms in the past 15 years. What I did five years ago is different," he added.
BJP MP Udit Raj, who left the government red faced with his earlier confirmation that he attended the Mahishasur event in the JNU campus in October 2013, on Friday attempted to downplay the controversy and said that he has changed with the passage of time.
"I was an activist that time. Now also I am an activist and with the pace of time people change. I also changed and there is a saying that ?only fools and dead men don't change their views," Raj said.
"I did participate in the Mahishasur event in JNU and did express my views. I have been going on various platforms in the past 15 years. What I did five years ago is different," he added.
Raj also said that if he attends any event then it does not mean that his views are identical with the organisers.
"I have been to multiple events in 15 years all over the world, but it doesn't mean my views were identical to all the organisers," he added.
Amidst hullabaloo over a 'Mahishasur Martyrdom Day' pamphlet read out by Union Human Resource and Development (HRD) Minister Smriti Irani in the Parliament earlier this week, a report on Friday embarrassed the ruling dispensation, claiming that the event in question was attended by BJP MP Udit Raj in October 2013.
As Irani read out a document on Mahishasur Puja in Rajya Sabha on Thursday, it created a huge uproar among the Opposition.
"When they went to JNU they wanted insult of gods and goddesses be within freedom of speech. What was the need for (Congress vice president) Rahul Gandhi to accept such insult of gods," Irani said amid ruckus in the House, leading to its adjournment for the day.
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