New Delhi, Aug 21 (IANS) Union Health Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad Friday hit out at "bloody" state governments for not doing enough to contain the spread of the H1N1 virus, leading incensed state ministers to castigate him for his "unparliamentary language".
"Bloody, hum yahan par 20-24 ghante kaam karte hai aur aap aish karte ho (Bloody, we are working 20 to 24 hours. And you people are enjoying yourselves)," Azad said at a meeting of state health ministers here.
Stunned silence followed the outburst, but Azad was unfazed and continued to scold the gathering.
"You must wake up. Hum teen mahine se aap ko jhel rahe hai (For the past three months, we are tolerating you people)," said the health minister after completing his written speech.
When told that his language had angered some minister, Azad said: "It is between us."
The meeting was on the National Rural Health Mission (NRHM), the flagship programme of the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government that was launched in 2005 and is aimed at providing quality healthcare to the rural populace.
According to the union health ministry, the programme was attended by 19 state health ministers and the lieutenant governor of the Andaman and Nicobar Islands.
Azad, after speaking on the NRHM for a few minutes, went on to discuss the swine flu pandemic that has killed 36 people in the country and infected over 2,400 people.
"In fact, you should chase me rather than I chasing you. There is a limit to everything."
Reacting angrily to Azad's remark, Gujarat Health Minister Jaynarayan Vyas said: "This is the wrong language and not befitting a union minister. He is behaving like a headmaster and this is not the procedure in a federal system."
"We all know that there is a pandemic in the country. And the state and centre must cooperate...'Bloody' is an unparliamentary word. This is not fair on his (Azad) part," Vyas, who came out of the meeting hall after the health minister's address, told reporters.
Vyas said he asked the union health minister "why he used such language and he replied it was not meant for all (state governments)".
"Even if a state is performing the worst and is the biggest defaulter, why use such language...? The union health minister could have briefed us over a cup of tea."
After the first session of the meeting, Madhya Pradesh Health Minister Anup Mishra told IANS: "The central and state governments must cooperate. The language was not right. I believe controlling the pandemic is a joint responsibility. No one can shift the blame."
Bihar Health Minister Nand Kishore Yadav added: "Cooperation is more important than conflict. I don't know about others, but Bihar is fully geared to control the pandemic. Blame game is not a good thing."