Arun Jaitley's comment unacceptable and disgusting: D Raja

Communist Party of India (CPI) leader D Raja has termed Finance Minister Arun Jaitley's comments on the Nirbhaya case as "unacceptable and disgusting".

The CPI-M leader told ANI, "I really feel sorry that a person like Arun Jaitley has said such a thing. He happens to be the finance minister, he can talk of tourism industry or any other industry, he can talk about how to strengthen them and how to make them more profitable, but it doesn't mean that he can stoop to this level."

He said, "Taking up Nirbhaya case and saying it is a very small case and it is has endangered the profit of the country in tourism is really unacceptable and in fact disgusting."

Arun Jaitley however has said that it is regrettable that his words have been misconstrued.

"There is a controversy with regard to a speech that I had made at a tourism conference yesterday. I had spoken at length on the factors that hurt tourism in India. One of the factors that I mentioned was crime, especially the crime against the women," he told ANI.

He also added, "I regret that the statement or some word that I had used has been construed as being insensitive, which was never my intention. I have always been outspoken about crime against women and I am very sensitive to these issues myself.