Shambhu Singh Khetasar, the chairman of Rajasthan State Seeds Corporation, found himself in an embarrassing position after a picture of him urinating in public, that too next too a campaign poster featuring Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje, went viral on social media.
To make matters worse, he defended his actions by calling it an “age old tradition”.
“Just urinating in public doesn’t spread uncleanliness. It was a place where there wasn’t a urinal for kilometres. There was no crowd. There was a wall which had posters. This has been going on since ages,” he said.
“As far as Swachh Bharat Abhiyan is concerned, urination alone doesn’t contribute to uncleanliness. That place does not have urinals for kilometers at a stretch,” he said.
Khetasar also said that defecating and urinating in the open were two different things.
While stating that urinating in public is not good, he said that it is a natural requirement.
“Open defecation and urinating in public are two different things. Open defecation spreads diseases. Urinating in such a large open space doesn’t spread uncleanliness,” he said.
The news comes as huge embarasment to Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s ambitious Swachh Bharat mission, especially in poll-bound Rajasthan.
(With inputs from ANI and NDTV)