BJP MLA’s outburst at Bengaluru woman over demolition fans row
The incident occurred on Friday when Aravind Limbavali, the BJP MLA from Mahadevapura, was on rounds in his assembly constituency, which had seen severe waterlogging due to heavy rainfall last week.
A senior Bharatiya Janata Party legislator in Karnataka has stoked a political row after a video of him surfaced purportedly scolding and threatening a woman, who tried to hand over a complaint to him regarding demolition of her property over encroachment allegation.
The incident occurred on Friday when Aravind Limbavali, the BJP MLA from Mahadevapura, was on rounds in his assembly constituency, which had seen severe waterlogging due to heavy rainfall last week. The woman, identified as Ruth Sagay Mary, a Congress party worker, had approached him and asked him to look at the complaint letter relating to land encroachment in Mahadevapura constituency.
In an order on Wednesday, the Karnataka government said encroached properties blocking rainwater flow will be demolished. The woman was also issued a notice for demolition, but she claimed the land belonged to her and that she had documents to prove it.
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In the video of the incident that has gone viral on social media, Limbavali is seen ripping a paper from the woman’s hand as she tries to hand it over to him. “Don’t you have any shame or manners?” he is purportedly heard saying.
{{/usCountry}}In the video of the incident that has gone viral on social media, Limbavali is seen ripping a paper from the woman’s hand as she tries to hand it over to him. “Don’t you have any shame or manners?” he is purportedly heard saying.
{{/usCountry}}“I’m speaking to you with respect,” the woman is heard replying as she asks Limbavali not to demolish the property allegedly built on an encroached land. “It is not a government land, sir. It is ours,” she argues.
{{/usCountry}}“I’m speaking to you with respect,” the woman is heard replying as she asks Limbavali not to demolish the property allegedly built on an encroached land. “It is not a government land, sir. It is ours,” she argues.
{{/usCountry}}She kept urging Limbavali to see the document, to which the MLA says: “Enough or I will have to speak to you in a different language.”
{{/usCountry}}She kept urging Limbavali to see the document, to which the MLA says: “Enough or I will have to speak to you in a different language.”
{{/usCountry}}Limbavali then asks a woman police officer to take her away.
{{/usCountry}}Limbavali then asks a woman police officer to take her away.
{{/usCountry}}HT cannot independently verify the authenticity of the video.
{{/usCountry}}HT cannot independently verify the authenticity of the video.
{{/usCountry}}After the video went viral, the Congress attacked the ruling BJP and demanded the MLA’s resignation. The woman, meanwhile, alleged that a case has been registered against her and her family members. A revenue department official has lodged a complaint at the Whitefield police station against the woman for alleging obstructing officials from performing their duty.
“MLA Limbavali has instructed the police to boot me out into the prison repeatedly. He said if I have any respect and honour?” she later told reporters. “You have encroached on the land and now you come in front of the MLA, he told me. He also asked the police to drag me to the police station and made me sit there.”
Speaking to a Kannada news channel hours after the incident, when asked why he threatened a woman activist in public, Limbavali said: “You are speaking in favour of the woman. Speak in favour of the people. That is what I am trying to tell. What have I done? Have I raped her?”
Senior Congress legislator Dinesh Gundu Rao demanded that the state women’s commission take note of the incident. “The MLA should not have spoken to a woman like that. This is uncivilised behavior,” Rao said. “The MLA has threatened that he would ensure she is imprisoned. Who is he to talk about all this? All BJP leaders are displaying arrogant behavior.”
Priyank Kharge, Congress MLA and party’s state media in-charge, said: “Is MLA Limbavali a rowdy? He does not have the patience to receive petitions and listen to woes.”
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On Saturday, Limbavali expressed his willingness to apologise, while maintaining that the woman has encroached on land, causing problems to the people.
“I am ready to apologise for this. But this same worker of your party Mary has occupied Rajkalu for many years and caused problems to people, ask her to vacate it. Ask your activist to stop her stubbornness right here,” Limbavali posted on Twitter, along with images showing waterlogging in the area, while responding to a tweet by Congress leader Randeep Singh Surjewala.
The incident comes months after Limbavali’s daughter was caught on camera threatening and misbehaving with policemen, who stopped her over-speeding car in Bengaluru.
