Bhopal, Jun 29 (IANS): Madhya Pradesh school education minister Inder Singh Parmar has created a huge controversy after he allegedly told some parents, "go and die, do whatever you want to do".

The parents had gone to him to urge him to reduce the school fees as it is becoming increasingly difficult for them to pay due to reduced income impacted by the pandemic.

Parents Federation president Kamal Vishwakarma said that the parents went to the school education minister's residence on Tuesday morning with the complaint that schools are overcharging fees, but the minister did not listen to the parents and lost his cool.

The minister, enraged at the demand, told the visiting parents, "Go and die, do whatever you want to." Minister Parmar's statement has now gone viral on the social media.

The parents union has demanded an apology from the minister. They have also decided to file a defamation case against Parmar.

Attacking the minister, Congress leader and media coordinator of former chief minister Kamal Nath, Narendra Saluja, said, "The minister is a shameless person. The parents union went to meet him for relief, but he showed an irresponsible attitude. He told the parents if you want to die, then die, we don't care."

The BJP has defended the minister. BJP spokesperson Rajpal Singh Sisodia said that the parents union had met the school education minister regarding school fees. "The minister asked them to wait and told them that he will get back after studying the issue. Then parents started saying, should we die. Then he said why die, I will solve the problem after studying the issue."