Renuka Singh, Union minister of state for tribal affairs was seen in a video threatening district administration officials in Congress-ruled Chhattisgarh for allegedly beating a man up in a quarantine centre and being discriminatory towards BJP workers.
The minister was enraged after Dilip Gupta, a resident of Balarampur district had accused the chief executive officer and tehsildar of the district panchayat of assaulting him in a quarantine centre in the area after he complained of poor arrangements.
“Bhagvadhari BJP karyakartaon ko kamzor na samjhna aap... Jo bhed-bhaav kar rahe ho na BJP karyakartaaon ke saath .. Bhool Jaaiye .. Andheri Kothari mein le jaake mein ..belt kolke thokna jaanti hun bhut acche se... (Don’t think that BJP workers are weak .. Forget about the discrimination which you are doing with them.. I very well know how to lock people in a room and thrash them with a belt),” the minister is seen telling officials.
“You have just beaten him because he knows his rights...You people are working are working arbitrarily which will not work,” she said.
“If I was only a MP, I would have lived entire time in my constituency but I am a union minister too, so I have to go to Delhi. This does not mean that my workers and people have become venerable,” she said.
{{/usCountry}}“If I was only a MP, I would have lived entire time in my constituency but I am a union minister too, so I have to go to Delhi. This does not mean that my workers and people have become venerable,” she said.
{{/usCountry}}HT cannot vouch for the veracity of the video.
The minister did not respond to repeated call and messages from Hindustan Times. She later told news agency ANI Sunday evening that Dilip Gupta, who had come to Balrampur, was put in a quarantine centre and badly beaten for highlighting poor arrangements at the facility.
“When Gupta witnessed poor arrangement in the quarantine centre , he made a video to raise the issue . When the administration came to know about the video, two officials – a tehsildar and CEO Janpad Panchayat reached in the centre..They threatened and beaten him with belt. After this they shifted him to some other place and the family started searching for Gupta. The parents informed me and when I reached in the centre, I found that the Gupta was badly beaten… The CEO Janpad Panchayat accepted that he made a mistake,” the minister said.
Balrampur’s Collector, Sanjiv Kumar Jha said an inquiry has been ordered.
“We have ordered an probe in this matter whether Gupta, who reached Balrampur from Delhi on May 15 was beaten up by the officers or not . We will take action accordingly,” said Jha.