Known for courting controversies by his various remarks, Madhya Pradesh Home Minister Babulal Gaur on Sunday left many activists bewildered when he said that consuming liquor is a status symbol and also a fundamental right.


Speaking to ANI, Gaur rubbished all logics that alcohol consumption can be a reason for rise in crimes."Sharaab peene se apraadh nahi badhte, pee kar dagmagaane se apraadh badhte hain (Crimes don't happen due to alcohol consumption, they happen when people lose control of themselves afterwards),' he said.


Peene wala samajh kar piye, itna piye ki kissise baat karte waqt pata na chale. Sharab peena ek status hai, uska fundamental right (One having liquor should be cautious while drinking. The person should drink it in such a way so that none around him can find out whether he is drunk or not. Consuming liquor is a status symbol. It is his fundamental right),' he added.



This is not the first time Gaur has stoked a controversy. Earlier, he had described rape as a social crime, saying "sometimes it's right, sometimes it's wrong".


"It is a social crime which depends on the man and the woman. It is sometimes right and sometimes wrong. Unless a complaint is filed, nothing happens," he had said.


He had also angered women rights activists when he disclosed that he had once told the wife of a Russian leader that he would teach her how to untie a dhoti."I told her I can't teach you how to wear it, but I can certainly teach you how to remove it, but that too later, not now," Gaur had said.