People in palaces die too, says UP Minister on relief camp deaths

Uttar Pradesh’s sports minister Narad Rai on Saturday stoked a fresh controversy over deaths in relief camps for riot-hit victims in Muzaffarnagar by saying even people living in palaces die, reports IBN-Live. The minister is quoted as saying, “People die in palaces too. It is not just that people only die in camps or on footpath.” He also said that deaths of children, adults and elderly are inevitable. “It isn’t that children in our homes don’t die. Deaths occur everywhere,” Rai said. [caption id=“attachment_1335629” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] Narad Rai in this screenshot from IBN-Live[/caption] Rai’s comments couldn’t have come at a worse time for the Samajwadi Party government. The party has been under constant criticism over the deaths and difficult conditions under which Muzaffarnagar riots victims are living in the relief camps. Just a few days back the Akhilesh Yadav government had accepted that 34 children have died in relief camps for the riot-hit Muzaffarnagar and Shamli.