Minister compares safety of Indian cities with Africa, kicks up row

Culture Minister Mahesh Sharma on Friday kicked up a row by comparing the safety of Indian cities with that of Africa.

The remark comes when the controversy surrounding the killing of a Congolese student in Delhi is still ripe.

“India is a large country and such incidents will give a bad name to India. It is an unfortunate incident. However, even Africa is not safe. Such incidents happen in other parts of the world too,” Sharma said in an interview.

The minister narrated how he had to cut down his morning and evening walks during a visit to South Africa because of safety concerns. “When I went to South Africa, I was stopped from going for a morning walk at 6 am by the hotel people citing security reasons. My post-dinner walk was also dropped because of the same reasons. It’s not fair to say that India is unsafe,” said Sharma.

The murder of the Congolese student in South Delhi’s Vasant Kunj has snowballed into a diplomatic crisis as African nations threatened to pull out of a government-sponsored event to celebrate the Africa Day. They relented later only after receiving personal assurance from the External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj.