Yechury to Rajnath: 'Thank' Salim for exposing erroneous quote

The Communist Party of India (Marxist) on Tuesday said that Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh should thank party leader Mohammed Salim for bringing to light a quote erroneously attributed to the Home Minister by a weekly magazine.

"If they have published it by mistake, then the government and the Home Minister should thank Salim Sahib. It has been there (public domain) for many weeks and nobody paid attention to it. At least, we reminded them (government). The government and the House should thank Comrade Salim," CPI (M) General Secretary Sitaram Yechury told media here.

In a statement released by the Outlook late Monday night, the magazine regretted the lack of diligence in verifying the source of the statement and said it was not their intention to denigrate the home minister or Parliament.

Mohammad Salim had announced in the Lok Sabha that Rajnath Singh had claimed that Narendra Modi was the first Hindu ruler in 800 years at the Centre.

Rajnath challenged Salim to authenticate the statement reportedly made by him, or else to apologise to him and the House for making such an irresponsible statement. The House witnessed repeated adjournments over the issue.

Salim's statement was later expunged by Speaker Sumitra Mahajan.