WHO IS MINISTER GIRIRAJ SINGH?

NEW DELHI: “If Rajiv Gandhi had married a Nigerian lady and not a white skinned woman, then would the Congress have accepted her leadership?” And no, this comment has not come from a racist ‘pig’ to use the old colloquialism, but from a senior Minister in the Government of India, Giriraj Singh.

An aggressive personality whose key to current success is his unstinting loyalty to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Singh’s clarification was perhaps even worse. He said that the remarks were made ‘off the record’ as if that justified the sentiment. And the “if Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi were hurt by my remarks then I apologise” statement coming as a clear indication that he did not perceive this to be politically incorrect and racist in its overtones.

Singh was lambasted by the opposition with even BJP leader Kiran Bedi describing his comments as “shocking.” Congress spokesperson Randeep Singh Surjewala said Singh was bordering on ‘insanity’ and "It appears that continuous quest to appease Prime Minister, Shri Narendra Modi has made him lose his balance." The Congress demanded that he be sacked by PM Modi for the “intemperate and distasteful remarks”. CPI(M)’s Brinda Karat said, “he is a serial offender. PM has a duty to publicly correct this situation. What is his ‘mann ki baat’ on this? His silence reflect connivance and encouragement.”

Significantly Singh was brought into the Council of Ministers in November as the minister of state, Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises, with his track record of controversy well established by that time. He is a Bhumiyar Brahmin from Bihar, and was in the Nitish Kumar government till 2013 when he was removed following the split between the Janata Dal(U) and the Bharatiya Janata party. During the middle of the Lok Sabha campaign Singh hit the headlines by declaring that those opposed to Modi could all move to Pakistan. Again comments that drew flak from the opposition, but no remonstration from within the BJP.

Later in July last year Singh, MP, got into trouble by sheer fluke. He filed a complaint on July 8, 2014 that his house had been burgled of some jewellery and Rs 50,000 in cash.The police for once swung into action and arrested the burglar, one Dinesh Kumar with a suitcase packed with jewellery, luxury watches, silver coins, 600 US dollars and cash worth Rs 1.14crores that he confessed to having stolen from Singh’s residence. This raised a storm in the Bihar Assembly with the state government demanding his arrest. More so, as in his affidavit to the Election Commission Singh had declared cash assets of only Rs 1.4 lakhs.

“The law says that you can lose your membership if you file a wrong affidavit. Giriraj, while filing his nomination papers, had mentioned that he had Rs 1.4 lakh in cash. He will now have to explain it to the I-T Dept, ED and the Election Commission how and from where he amassed Rs 1.14 crore in cash,” said JD(U) spokesperson Neeraj Kumar.

Nothing came of this, and Singh was included in the Council of Ministers by PM Modi in November last year. Loyalty paid off, as he had taken the lead in challenging Kumar after the split in Bihar, insisting first that he would not leave, daring the then Chief Minister to sack him. He made it clear that his loyalties lay with then Gujarat CM Modi, and would observe a fast in Bihar when the latter went on fast in Gujarat. When Kumar refused to allow Modi to visit Bihar to campaign in elections. Singh reached out and asked him to campaign in his constituency Nawada.

Singh, like most of his tribe, likes to wear saffron and sports a tilak on his forehead all the time. He has not distinguished himself as a minister and is rarely heard from on policy issues, hitting the news only with remarks that go beyond the pale of politically acceptable behaviour.