That Congress leaders talk like Babel and most of them rank insensitive became clear Thursday after another party leader Rasheed Masood claimed just Rs 5 is sufficient for a meal in the Capital, even as the party tried to wriggle out of the controversy saying the issue of poverty should not be trivialised. "You can eat a meal in Delhi for Rs 5. I don't know about Mumbai. You can get a meal for Rs 5 near Jama Masjid," Masood said.
His comment came a day after party spokesman Raj Babbar said a hearty meal can be bought for Rs 12 in Mumbai. When asked whether he ever had a meal for Rs 5, he said he can have a meal for even less than Rs 5. Babbar had yesterday said it is possible to have "full meal at Rs 12 in Mumbai" even today. His remark came at the AICC briefing in response to a volley of questions as he tried to explain that poverty has come down even as prices have risen.
When asked about Masood's remarks, minister manish Tewari said the issue should not be trivialised. "There is no need to trivialise everything. The question is about the report of the Planning Commission in which they have compared the decline in poverty in 2004 vs 2012, NDA vs UPA," he said.
Another Congress leader Abhishek Manu Singhvi expressed similar sentiment saying the issue should not be trivialized by "mocking those living below or above poverty line. Nobody is suggesting it is a comforting situation. It is a travesty to say that Congress and the Planning Commission are suggesting otherwise," he said.
