New Delhi: When asked about the death of several farmers during the protests at Delhi’s borders and why they were not being conferred the status of martyrs, Haryana agriculture minister Jai Prakash Dalal, on Saturday, stated, “Wouldn’t they still have died had they been at home?”Dalal also reasoned that their deaths were not out of the ordinary. “Tell me what’s the average age [for death] in India and how many [farmers] die every year? They have died in the same ratio. Out of one to two lakhs, do 200 people not die every six months? Someone can die of a heart attack and someone else can die after falling ill,” the minister said.Then came another question: even the prime minister expresses grief when people die in accidents, so why were no condolences offered for the farmers? To this, Dalal had replied, “But they didn’t die in accidents. They died by choice…Anyway, I offer my deepest condolences to all those who died.”Also read: A Farmer Can’t Be Draped in the Tricolour at His Funeral, But a Lynching Accused CanHe went on to add that the farmers, who were “naïve,” were being misled. “The common farmer is naïve, some joined the protests due to sympathy, some due to community or for some other reason,” he added.As videos of his comments circulated, Congress national spokesperson Randeep Surjewala tweeted: “These words can only be used by an insensitive and riteless person for the struggling contributors in the movement. Shame, but they don’t know Haryana Agriculture Minister JP Dalal, who first described farmers as pro-Pakistan and China, should be dismissed from the cabinet.”Dalal then apologised and claimed that his remarks had been “twisted”. He was quoted by news agency ANI as saying: “During the press conference, I condoled the demise of farmers who died during the protest. Even if a person dies unnaturally, it is painful. As far as the matter of giving the status of martyred is considered, the Jawans are given this status as the government has made policy for it”.Dalal is not the only BJP leader to speak dismissively of farmers.Soon after the farmers’ protest had begun on Delhi’s border in late November, Union minister Piyush Goyal had stated while addressing the 93rd annual convention of FICCI that the farmers’ agitation had been “almost infiltrated by Leftists and Maoist elements”.Also read: For Those Dividing Indians in Order To Rule Them, Adivasis Are Clearly Not FarmersThis had drawn a sharp response from a former ally of the BJP, Shiv Sena. A day later its leader and Maharashtra chief minister Uddhav Thackeray slammed the BJP for labelling protesting farmers as terrorists. He said those who uttered such words against the “annadata” (provider of grains) were not worthy of being called humans.Like Goyal, the statement of another Union Minister and Maharashtra BJP leader Raosaheb Danve had also caused outrage. He had claimed that China and Pakistan were behind the protests being staged by farmers.In early December, a social media post which claimed that Union Minister Sanjay Dhotre had stated, “let the farmers die if they want to die”, had also gone viral. A fact check of this statement revealed that these remarks were not new and had been printed by several media organisations in 2014. An MP from Akola, Dhotre had been then quoted by several newspapers like Deccan Chronicle and The Hindu after he made the statement in connection with the suicide of 12 farmers in the Vidarbha region of Maharashtra.The Hindu had quoted him as saying, “If the farmers are incapable or cannot afford farming then they shall be let to die.” However, Dhotre too had sought to clarify that this statement was taken out of context.As in the case of Dalal now, NDTV had quoted him saying then: “What I meant was that the schemes that are proposed by us are not making the condition of farmers better, but making them worse. And I said that we should do nothing and if we leave the farmers on their own, they will be happy. And in anger, I said that if they are dying, then let them die. I did not mean it in an offensive manner but if some people find it offensive, then it’s their negative thinking. The people who heard the whole speech did not have any problem with it, be it the journalists or the farmers.”