'Go die': Madhya Pradesh minister tells parents who complained of high school fees

"What to do, sir? We will die," the parents could be heard pleading in the video after which the minister reportedly said 'Go, die". Then the minister went inside his car.

A video of Madhya Pradesh school education minister Inder Singh Parmar apparently asking a group of complaining parents to 'go and die' has gone viral on social media and the minister drew flak for his insensitive comment.

Madhya Pradesh minister Inder Singh Parmar has courted a controversy after his interaction where he asked parents to 'go die' went viral.

Reports said representatives of Madhya Pradesh Palak Mahasangh, an association of parents, went to meet the minister at his residence in Bhopal complaining against schools overcharging while physical classes are suspended. The parents said that though the high court had ordered in November 2020 that schools will only collect tuition fees until physical classes are resuming, some schools are taking the entire fee, even during the lockdown.

"What to do, sir? We will die," the parents could be heard pleading in the video after which the minister reportedly said 'Go, die". Parents — 80 of them went to meet the minister — then shouted, 'Shall we die?' As seen in the video, the minister then went inside his car without responding to the parents.

During the interaction, the minister also asked the parents to switch the camera off once.

Following the interaction, which the minister left in the midway, the parents demonstrated outside his residence. NSUI burnt en effigy of the minister and demanded his resignation. The parents' organisation too demanded his resignation over his insensitive remark and said that they will complain to chief minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan.

Congress state president Jitu Patwari shared the video on social media and wrote, "This is Madhya Pradesh's education minister and Shivraj Singh Chouhan's uncontrolled horse. He is telling the parents' union 'do whatever you can, go and die'. This response to the demand of fee waiver in schools during the pandemic shows how the government is blinded by the power."

The minister has not commented on the viral video so far.