America ruled India for over 200 years: Uttarakhand CM

Dehradun : Days after he made headlines with his ripped jeans remark, Uttarakhand CM Tirath Singh Rawat on Sunday said that America ruled India for over 200 years. Apparently, he got confused between UK and USA.

"America, which enslaved us for 200 years, which ruled the world, under whose empire it was said the sun didn’t set…recorded more than 2.75 lakh deaths due to Covid-19 and is still struggling," said Rawat.

In an attempt to compare India's coronavirus situation with USA, he wrongly used Britain’s colonial past. He mentioned that USA recorded more than 2.75 lakh Covid-19 deaths and more than 50 lakh cases; however, the US media reports claim around 2.98 crore (29,808,700) Covid cases and 5.41 lakh (541,493) deaths.

"Who knows what would have happened to India had anyone else been the prime minister instead of Narendra Modi during this time… we would have been in a bad state. But PM gave us relief," he said.

Rawat added that PM Modi saved everyone, "but we didn’t follow his instructions. Wearing masks, sanitising, washing hands and social distancing — only some people followed."

Recently, he had made headlines when he tagged women wearing ripped jeans as mannerless. “She runs an NGO, goes out in the society and has two children, but she wears jeans ripped at the knees. What values will she impart?” Mr Rawat had asked.

He later said that his comments on ripped jeans were misjudged and were not intended to disrespect women.