BJP MP from North Mumbai Gopal Shetty said on Thursday that his words were misconstrued. This came a day after his reported remark that farmer suicides were a “fashion” became controversial. The party found itself in an embarrassing situation as Mr. Shetty’s comments coincided with a pro-farmer rally in Madhya Pradesh the same day.

“Not all farmer suicides are because of hunger and unemployment. There is a fashion, a trend is on. If the Maharashtra government is giving Rs 5 lakh, another government is giving Rs. 7 lakh, Rs. 8 lakh. There is a competition to give money to farmers,” Mr Shetty had said on Wednesday.

With the BJP distancing itself from his comments, Mr. Shetty sought to clarify, saying he did not mean to hurt anyone and had erroneously used ‘fashion’ instead of ‘competition.’

“I was saying that the previous governments haven’t paid attention to the crisis, as a result of which farmers are facing problems. I said there is competition among State governments, but instead of ‘competition’, I used the word ‘fashion’. Now it has become an issue,” he said, after the Opposition took him and the BJP on over his remarks.

According to numbers provided by the Maharashtra government to the Bombay High Court, the Marathwada region has recorded 124 farmer suicides in January 2016 alone. Two days ago in court, Advocate-General Shrihari Aney accepted that the State government is falling short in providing relief, and blamed incompetent officials for this.