Union minister Suresh Gopi says 'members of upper castes should handle tribal affairs portfolio', stokes controversy

Union minister and Bharatiya Janata Party Janata Party Janata Party MP from Kerala Suresh Gopi sparked an uproar on Sunday by suggesting that an upper-caste person be made the Minister for Tribal Affairs while someone from the backward castes be appointed as minister for empowerment of upper-caste groups, PTI reported.

“This is another curse of our country that a non-tribal person cannot be the Minister for Tribal Affairs,” Gopi had said while campaigning for the BJP in East Delhi’s Mayur Vihar area, which has a significant Malayali population.

The Assembly elections in Delhi will be held on Wednesday. The votes will be counted on Saturday.

Gopi also said: “It is my wish and dream that an upper-caste person should become the tribal affairs minister for the empowerment of the tribal community. If there is a tribal person, who is supposed to become tribal affairs minister, the person should be made the minister for the empowerment of the upper-caste community. This change should happen in our democratic system.”