Excelsior Correspondent
SRINAGAR, Oct 22: Former Chief Minister Omar Abdullah today said he was left “speechless” by the controversial remarks made by Union Minister Gen (retd) V K Singh on the killing of two Dalit children in Faridabad.
“I’m #speechless,” Omar wrote on twitter.Com in response to Singh’s comments about the Dalit killings.
Union Minister of State for External Affairs V K Singh while trying to shield the Government from blame in the Faridabad Dalit burning incident, today said the “Government cannot be held responsible if somebody stones a dog”.
“See, the thing is, never associate local incidents with the Central Government (sarkar). There is an inquiry going on. There was a dispute between families. The dispute…How did it turn out…Where did the administration fail, after these it come to the Centre.
“For everything…Like if somebody throws a stone at a dog, then the Government is responsible…It is not like that,” Singh said in Ghaziabad, the constituency he represents in Parliament, while referring to the burning alive of a Dalit family allegedly by upper caste Rajputs in Haryana’s Faridabad which left two toddlers dead on the intervening night of October 19-20.
The former Army General, Singh, however, later clarified his statement was not intended to draw an analogy between the Faridabad incident and stoning of a dog.
“It does not matter who or what the political affiliations are, the perpetrators have to be dealt with without mercy. I also appeal to the media not to deliberately twist my words out of context. What I have said and continue to say is very clear, and there is no ambiguity about it,” he said.
“My statement wasn’t intended to draw an analogy. My men and I put our lives on the line for the nation irrespective of caste, creed & religion,” he later tweeted.
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