Karnataka’s Social Welfare Minister Priyank Kharge on Thursday purportedly compared media with terrorists, claiming that media presents only the “partial truth”, PTI reported. He later clarified that his statements were an appeal to the media to stand by the truth.

“Nobody should take offence,” Kharge said. “My personal opinion is that the terrorists kill with a single bullet but the media keeps killing,” the Congress leader told students of mass communication in Bengaluru.

Kharge said that media presents only the “partial truth” without considering the consequences. “In this era of breaking news, in this era of TRP [Television Rating Points], only partial is heard and partial truth is made public,” he said. “Nobody is bothered to check whether that is true or false, or good or bad. I am also a victim of it.” Kharge told the students that they too have responsibility as “opinion creators”.

Kharge later clarified that he had never likened journalists to terrorists. “My only objective was to tell the students of journalism to stand by the truth,” he wrote on Twitter. “I have huge respect for media and their independence. Being the fourth pillar of democracy, I only appealed it to stand by truth.”

Kharge said his statement was not meant to demoralise journalists and should not be taken in a wrong way.