India officials blasted after telling poor: 'You can eat for five pence' Varun Gandhi, a senior leader of the Hindu nationalist BJP and grandson of former prime minister Indira Gandhi, said the only place meals could be bought so cheaply was in the Indian parliament's subsidised canteen for MPs. The cheapest meals available in the capital Delhi are in the city's Nizamuddin and Old Delhi quarters, where the poor homeless squat on their haunches outside dedicated cafes for benefactors to buy them a 10 rupee (11p) or 20 rupee (21p) token for a free meal. For this they receive a thin meat curry wrapped in a starchy naan bread. Those crouching near the front of the line are corralled by a man wielding a big stick in scenes from an earlier century. It's a cruel joke on the poor of India. The government has failed on every front and now they are trying to confuse people with absurd statements. It shows Congress is out of touch with reality," said BJP spokesman Siddharth Nath Singh. This afternoon [FRI] the Congress leadership withdrew the claims and Raj Babbar apologised for any offence. "If my statement has pained someone then I regret it," he said. The row comes as the government is pushing a Food Security Bill to give 5 kgs of subsidised to more than 700 million poor every month. Despite rapid economic growth, India still ranks 65th out of 79 countries in the Global Hunder Index. Almost half of its children are malnourished.