Union minister of state for external affairs General (Retired) VK Singh triggered a controversy on Thursday after he purportedly told a television channel that anyone who called the Indian Army the army of Prime Minister Narendra Modi was not only wrong, but also a traitor — a statement he later denied.

Talking to BBC Hindi, Singh allegedly said, “If someone says that the Indian Army is Modi’s army, then he is not only wrong but also a traitor to the country. India’s Army belongs to the country, it does not belong to a political party.”

Singh’s statement comes in the wake of the Uttar Pradesh chief minister Yogi Adityanath’s remark during a rally on April 1. “The Congress government used to serve biryani to terrorists and Modi ji’s army sends bullets and bombs their way,” Adityanath had said. The Election Commission of India on Wednesday issued a notice to Adityanath for this remark. Later, Singh slammed the BBC, invoking, once again, the “presstitute” word.

“BBC has done the same thing for which I had used the presstitute word. I have a record of what I said. Either the reporter was sleeping or he deliberately cut and pasted things to make a wrong statement,” he tweeted, asking how much money was given for this distortion of his comment.

First Published: Apr 05, 2019 00:05 IST