Akhilesh slams Jaitley on rape remarks

Lucknow: Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav today attacked Finance Minister Arun Jaitley over his “small rape incident” remark terming it as “most humiliating” for the nation. “A senior minister of the country has recently said something….he has termed the Nirbhaya case of Delhi as trivial. This has humiliated the country,” he said while addressing an event at King George’s Medical University in Lucknow.[caption id=“attachment_1678639” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav. PTI[/caption] On the Union minister’s comment that the Delhi rape incident has adversely affected tourism in the country, Yadav said, “There has been no impact on tourism in Agra…. some people think that Taj Mahal is in India, not Uttar Pradesh.” Clarifying his remarks, Jaitley had on Friday said, “I regret that the statement has been construed or some word that I have used have been construed as insensitive. That was never my intention.” Criticising the role of media in the Badaun killings case, the chief minister said, “Media wasted two months on Badaun incident, US and United Nations also took note of it, but what was shown about it has been proved false.” He was referring to a report of the Hyderabad-based Centre for DNA Fingerprinting and Diagnostics (CDFD) which ruled out sexual assault on the teenage cousin sisters whose bodies were found hanging from a tree in May. “Akhilesh Yadav was the most searched person on Twitter. When I asked what is the reason for this, I was told it was because of Badaun case….but I can say that your propaganda against UP government has had no impact on the state’s tourism,” the chief minister said. PTI