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Karnataka minister quits over 'god's fury' remark

Fakir Chand in Bangalore

Karnataka Minister of State for Civil Aviation and Infrastructure T John was on Wednesday forced to resign in the wake of a raging controversy that erupted over his remarks on the earthquake in Gujarat.

John reportedly said on Tuesday, "The catastrophe has befallen Gujarat as punishment for ill-treating Christians and other minorities. Injustice was done to our people. Churches were destroyed in Gujarat and for this injustice God punished them."

Bowing to all-round pressure from within the ruling Congress as well as the Opposition, led by the Bharatiya Janata Party, which is the ruling party in Gujarat, John submitted his resignation to Chief Minister S M Krishna on Wednesday afternoon.

In response to a memorandum submitted by state BJP politicians earlier in the day, Krishna sought an explanation from John on the statement, made at a function organised by the Good News Society for Global Peace to celebrate World Peace Day. The remarks were reported in a section of the media and by a Kannada channel, ETV, which even telecast a video clip from the function.

Referring to the super cyclone that struck Orissa in November 1999, John said that tragedy too was God's way of reacting to attacks on Christian missionaries, including the fatal torching of the Australian Graham Staines and his two sons way back in January 1999.

He added: "Those who killed Gandhiji are the ones who are standing in the way of peace in the country. Our only weapon is prayer. We can only pray for world peace."

Krishna lost no time in summoning John and directing him to resign gracefully for having given a communal colour to the country's worst earthquake in 50 years.

John has thus become the first minister to quit the 15-month-old Krishna government. This was his first stint in government. Not too long ago, he had also been linked to the hooch tragedy in neighbouring Kerala.

Having achieved their objective, BJP politicians later 'regretted' that John had become the 'latest victim' of the earthquake.

The Complete Coverage | List of earthquake sites

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