: A day after being criticised by the Opposition parties for the “insensitivity” towards the grieving mother of a slain Army soldier, U.P. Minister Yogendra Upadhyay issued a clarification on Saturday. On Friday, the Minister arrived at the house of Captain Shubham Gupta, who was killed fighting terrorists in Jammu and Kashmir, in Agra and tried to hand over a cheque of ₹50 lakh to his mother while posing in front of camerapersons even as she could be heard saying, “Don’t indulge in this public exhibition”.
In his video message, Mr. Upadhyay said, “We went there only to hand over the cheque. The martyr’s mother was brought out by the family members. She was heartbroken and consistently asked for her son. This is what happened.” He added that those doing politics over the issue had betrayed their “ugly mindset”.