<div>Culture Minister Mahesh Sharma on Friday kicked up a row by comparing the safety of Indian cities with that of Africa.<br /><br />The remark comes when the controversy surrounding the killing of a Congolese student in Delhi is still ripe.<br /><br />“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.<br /><br />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.<br /><br />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.<br /><br /></div>
<div>Culture Minister Mahesh Sharma on Friday kicked up a row by comparing the safety of Indian cities with that of Africa.<br /><br />The remark comes when the controversy surrounding the killing of a Congolese student in Delhi is still ripe.<br /><br />“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.<br /><br />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.<br /><br />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.<br /><br /></div>
