A minister in India's most populous and politically crucial state, Uttar Pradesh, said on Thursday that bureaucrats can steal a little as long as they work hard .
"If you work hard, and put your heart and soul into it ... then you are allowed to steal some," Shivpal Singh Yadav told a gathering of local officials in comments caught on camera. "But don't be a bandit."
The comments were caught by a local TV camera and then played on newscasts across the country. Yadav, a minister for public works who belongs to the state's ruling Samajwadi Party, quickly sought to control the damage, calling a news conference to explain that the comments were taken out of context .
"In that event the media was not allowed in, I don't know how they sneaked in" he said on Friday.
Uttar Pradesh, which is bigger than Brazil by population, was earlier governed by 'Dalit Queen' Mayawati. She has been criticized for spending millions of rupees on building statues of herself and buying diamond jewelry despite widespread malnutrition and poverty in her state.
from Reuters
