Facing the annoyance and protest by Opposition MLAs including that of Bharat Adiwasi Party (BAP) for not allowing him to speak in the Rajasthan Legislative Assembly, the Education Minister Madam Dilawar today apologised over his comments against tribals’ DNA test in the House.

As the day proceedings started with Question Hour, Speaker Vasudev Devnani allowed Dilawar’s request to say something important in the House to avoid any conflict with the Opposition MLAs on a first question related to the Education department.

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Dilawar said, “I come from a tribal community. I enquired in my family, my father and grandfather belonged to tribal (community) and they lived in the Saharia area. They (tribals) are the best part of Hindu samaj. The tribals also supported Maharana Pratap in the war. I have all respect for them. If the tribals have been hurt by my words, then I apologise for it.”

The opposition has been continuously hauling up Madan Dilawar — from the road to the Assembly. He was not even allowed to speak in the House. The opposition has been demanding his resignation from the ministerial post and apology from the very beginning. Today, when the proceedings of the House began, as soon as the Education Minister started speaking, the Congress leaders started creating a ruckus. Then, the minister apologised to the tribals.

Dilawar’s controversial comments on June 21-22 against tribals’ genealogy, suggesting them to go for a DNA test to ascertain their father, has created a stir in the entire tribal terrain of Banswara and Dungarpur districts.

Madan has said that “If BAP leader does not consider himself a Hindu then a DNA test should be done to verify whether he is the son of a Hindu”.

The minister’s remark came after BAP MP Rajkumar Roat recently said that he belongs to a tribal community and adheres to a belief system distinct from organised religions, including Hinduism.