Watch | CM Rawat makes a gaffe, says ‘America enslaved us for 200 years’

Uttarakhand Chief Minister Tirath Singh Rawat has been in the news recently for a controversial comment on ripped jeans, linking it with societal regression. And the 56-year-old has found himself making the headlines for the wrong reasons yet again, mistakenly saying that “America enslaved us for 200 years” instead of the British. 

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Addressing an event, Rawat was praising Prime Minister Narendra Modi for his efforts to keep the coronavirus pandemic under control, saying, “If there was someone else in his (PM Modi) place, India would have been helpless.”

“He gave us relief. A country with a such a large population is better off in terms of handling the pandemic as opposed to other countries. America, which enslaved us for 200 years, ruled the world, is struggling now,” Rawat said. 

While talking about Italy, which he said is “the number one country in the world in terms of healthcare”, the BJP leader falsely claimed the virus death toll in the country had crossed 50 lakh, or 5 million. 

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On Tuesday, Rawat claimed that “ripped jeans paves the way for societal breakdown, it is a bad example parents set for their children which also leads to substance abuse” during a substance abuse workshop. 

His remarks were widely criticised with a number of actors slamming the comments.