VK Singh's comment generated much outrage.
PM Narendra Modi on Tuesday stepped in after massive outrage over Union Minister's VK Singh's remarks regarding compensation to kin of 39 Indians killed in Iraq. PM Modi has announced ex-gratia payment of Rs 10 lakh each to families of those killed in Iraq's Mosul.
After returning with the bodies of the 39 dead in Mosul, Minister of State for External Affairs VK Singh reportedly said in Amritsar that he was not "distributing biscuits", when asked by reporters about compensation to the families of the victims.
He triggered a controversy by saying that providing jobs and compensations to families of the deceased was not like distributing biscuits or a game of football. Responding to a question about compensation to the families, Singh said, “Yeh biscuit baantne wala kaam nahi hai, ye admiyon ki zindagi ka sawal hai. Aa gayi baat samajh mein? (This is not like distributing biscuits. It involves human lives. Do you get it?). Singh further added, “Jeb mein koi pitara thodi rakha hua hai” (I don’t carry funds in my pocket).
The minister refused to make any announcement at the moment. Congress communications in-charge Randeep Surjewala said Singh's remark was like rubbing salt on the wounds of those dead. "39 Indians were killed in Mosul, Iraq, as Modi Government continuously misled the families and Nation. Minister, V.K. Singh is now rubbing 'salt on the wounds' by rubbishing the demands for compensation for the families as akin to demand for biscuits'. Heartless, Shameful and Reprehensible!, he wrote on Twitter.
Trinamool Congress leader Derek O'Brien also termed the remark as insensitive and said the minister used "inappropriate words". General Foot in Mouth mantri at it again. Insensitive. "Football" and "Biscuits"... inappropriate words when you are mourning the 39 dead #MosulTragedy Iraq, O'brien said on Twitter.
With PTI inputs
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 "Gurpinder Kaur (R) cries near the coffin of her borther Manjinder Singh, who was killed in Iraq")
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