After he was caught on camera purportedly telling officials that it was fine to “steal a little” if they agreed to work, UP minister Shivpal Singh Yadav on Friday vehemently denied having made any such remark.
The minister, who is the uncle of chief minister Akhilesh Yadav, said at a press conference here that his statement had been distorted and quoted out of context. He went on to accuse the media of violating the guidelines laid down by the Press Council of India.
“In fact, I was warning the officials who had indulged in corruption in the previous regime. How can I ever advise officers to steal a little and not commit dacoity, when I was talking against corruption in my speech,” he said.
The minister, during an official meeting in Etah on Thursday, was caught on camera purportedly telling officials that while it was all right to “steal a little”, they should not commit dacoity. The footage was allegedly shot by a crew hired by local administration officials to cover the meeting and later passed on to a local TV channel. The minister said the footage was actually part of a political conspiracy. “I have shown zero tolerance towards corruption... How can anyone say that I support corruption,” he said.
Mr Yadav said the media was not invited to cover the meeting but someone apparently sneaked in and shot the footage, which was then edited in a way that showed him in poor light.
This is not the first time that Mr Shivpal Singh Yadav has made “politically incorrect remarks”. While addressing a recent meeting, he allegedly asked people to save cows and suggested that they could kill “nilgai (blue bulls)” instead since blue bull meat makes for tasty kebabs. Blue bulls are an endangered species and the minister’s statement drew strong protests from animal lovers.
In 2006, when the SP was in power and Mr Mulayam Singh Yadav chief minister, Mr Shivpal Yadav had kicked up a controversy when he described the Nithari killings as a “minor incident”. This had become a major issue in the 2007 Assembly polls in UP.