Ahluwalia rubbishes reports of botched Dalit 'outreach' attempt

Union Minister of State SS Ahluwalia on Saturday rubbished reports circulating in the media that he ate 'outside food' at a Dalit household in Bihar's Begusarai.

Talking to ANI, Ahluwalia said, "All villages have a cook and they are the ones to cook on occasions as a woman cannot cook for 200-300 people."

He added the issue is unnecessarily being blown out of proportion and people should look at the emotion behind the act.

"Why is an issue being made? Why isn't emotion behind eating there being looked at?" asked Ahluwalia.

For the last few days, the BJP leaders have been working on their Dalit outreach by going to their houses to eat food with them. Many ministers of Uttar Pradesh and Bihar have been eating at Dalits' homes. Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, Deputy Chief Minister Keshav Prasad Maurya had eaten food with Dalits.