MANGALURU: Is Dakshina Kannada MP Nalin Kumar Kateel (BJP) competing with Tripura chief minister Biplab Kumar Deb and Uttar Pradesh chief minister Yogi Adityanath to make controversial statements? At a Vishwakarma Jayanti programme here on Monday, Kateel claimed Lord Shiva was the first to think of plastic surgery.Kateel said Lord Ganesha was created through plastic surgery. He said, “Parvathi asked his son Ganesha to man the door while she went for a bath. Lord Shiva, who beheaded Ganesha, gave him rebirth by fixing an elephant’s head through plastic surgery.”He’s not new to contoversial statements. Last year in Kerala, he claimed that a dollar under Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s tenure would be available for Rs 15 (it’s another matter that it’s now hovering above the Rs 72 mark). In January 2017, he had said, “If police fail to arrest the accused (in a murder case) in 10 days, we are capable of setting the district on fire.”About Monday’s statement, he said, “I only reiterated a fact from Indian mythology where Parvathi gives rebirth to her son Ganesha by implanting the head of an elephant. This may be construed as the first instance of plastic surgery.”At the Vishwakarma Jayanti function, the community’s achievements were hailed. “They were well known even in earlier eras, especially for their building skills. They built the Pushpaka Vimana,” he added.

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