Jagdalpur: Chhattisgarh industry and excise minister Kawasi Lakhma, a senior tribal leader, sparked a controversy with a crude remark against Prime Minister Narendra Modi saying that he visited the state twice and gave nothing worth to the state. The minister was replying to questions from the media about the visit of over a dozen Union ministers to the state for reviewing the progress of work in 10 aspirational districts, selected by the NITI Aayog. The minister’s video has now gone viral on social media and BJP leaders criticise his statement.

Senior Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Ajay Chandrakar fumed. “Such a language for the Prime Minister of the country is not acceptable in the democracy. Kawasi is supposed to be uneducated and speaks anything which is termed as a ‘slip of tongue’. Why doesn’t his tongue slip while talking about veteran leaders of Congress party and Gandhis?” The BJP leader demanded the minister’s ouster from the Baghel ministry.

Kawasi went on to say, “His ministers are visiting Chhattisgarh and they would come, eat dal-rice, have a picnic here and return. They have no say in front of PM Modi and Amit Shah. When PM couldn’t give anything to our state, I condemn the visits of union ministers as they are also not going to do anything for us.” Minutes before the statement, Kawasi’s other video was taken around on Twitter where he criticized Yoga Guru Baba Ramdev stating, “Fuel prices are Skyrocketing and Ramdev had said the prices would decline. The fuel prices don’t fall just by flattening and rotating the stomach like how Ramdev does.”