Minister Inu faces ire of Cabinet colleagues after his rant against MPs, bureaucrats

Information Minister Hasanul Haq Inu has come under criticism from his colleagues even after saying sorry claiming that MPs and bureaucrats steal money from government schemes for the poor.

Inu once again said sorry at Monday’s Cabinet meeting chaired by Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, several ministers have confirmed bdnews24.com.

One of them, requesting anonymity, quoted the prime minister as saying, “He (Inu) has described himself as a thief through the comments.”

The information minister on Sunday said in a discussion that he, being an MP, knew how tens of millions were being ‘stolen from programmes like Test Relief (TR) and Food for Work’.

A statement from his ministry later quoted him as saying that he meant ‘some cases of corruption’, but did not blame everyone while speaking about the prime minister’s effort against graft.

“If someone got hurt, I am really sorry for that,” he said.

During Monday’s meeting, the Cabinet members were provided with copies of the statement and media reports published on it.

A minister, who was present at the meeting, told bdnews24.com Inu himself read out the statement following discussions on the meeting agendas.

“The prime minister said words once spoken, like an arrow from a bow, cannot be taken back,” he said.

State Minister for Labour and Employment Mujibul Haque challenged Inu, saying he will leave Cabinet if Inu can prove that he has stolen money from the projects.

“He (Inu) has humiliated everyone by his comment,” Mujibul was quoted as saying.

Agriculture Minister Matia Chowdhury agreed with Mujibul.

“There is no scope of saying that he didn’t mean it. Because there will be nothing to say if we see the record of his speech,” Matia said.

Inu remained silent as his colleagues criticised him, the minister, who spoke to bdnews24.com, said.