Union Tourism and IT Minister KJ Alphons, who has several times been trolled on social media for his comments on various issues, on Sunday said he had vowed not to speak unnecessarily.
"I have now decided that I will speak only on issues related to me and will not speak on other issues, as I have been mocked for no reason by twisting what I said. I have had enough as it has become difficult to even crack jokes," he said while taking part in a discussion on a TV channel.
Ever since his induction into the Narendra Modi ministry last year, Alphons has recieved a lot of flak, especially on social media, for his stance on several issues including his reaction on beef-eating, rising petroleum prices and so on.
In September, he raked up a controversy for his contradictory remarks on beef.
Speaking about a beef ban in many states of India affecting the tourism sector, the minister said, "They (foreigner tourists) can eat beef in their country and come to India."
Earlier, however, he had said that BJP had no plans to impose a food code or food emergency in any state including Kerala.
"It is absolutely untrue. Kerala is a beef-eating state. It is not going to stop eating beef. It will continue to eat beef. BJP doesn't have a problem," Alphons had told a TV channel after taking charge of the Tourism Ministry.
In the same month, he said that people who own bikes and cars are not starving and can afford to pay higher prices for fuel.
His comments came at a time when fuel prices were at a three-year high and it attracted strong criticism from opposition parties which described them as insensitive to the common man's problems.
"So we are going to tax people who can afford to pay. Somebody who has a car, bike; certainly he is not starving. Somebody who can afford to pay, has to pay," he said.
A former bureaucrat, Alphons had been a Left-supported legislator in Kerala from 2006-11 before joining the Bharatiya Janata Party in 2011.
(With IANS inputs)