Mangal Pandey was appointed as Bihar BJP chief in 2013. (Photo Credit: ANI/Twitter)
New Delhi:
In yet another example of prevalent ‘VIP culture’ in India, Bihar’s Health Minister Mangal Pandey told the senior officials to suspend an assistant sub-inspector after he failed to recognise the BJP leader during an event. The incident that took place on Friday came to light after the video of Pandey rebuking the cop surfaced online. In the 28-second clip, Pandey is seen visibly angry as he scold a senior official for deploying ‘ignorant’ people on job. “What kind of people you have here. This guy doesn’t even recognise the minister. Suspend kairaiye isse (get him suspended),” Pandey is heard telling the official even as the ‘erring cop’ is meekly standing there. According to news agency ANI, the police officer was deputed for security at the foundation stone laying ceremony of a hospital in Siwan.
This is not the first time that Pandey has hit the national headlines for the wrong reasons. Back in June, 2019 at the peak of Encephalitis outbreak, Pandey was caught on camera on Sunday enquiring about latest score of India, Pakistan cricket match at Manchester. In a video posted by news agency ANI, Pandey can be clearly heard asking for the match updates. "How many wickets have fallen till now?" he was heard asking, to which he received the answer: "Four wickets." All this happened while Union Health Minister Dr Harsh Vardhan and another senior minister Ashwini Kumar Choubey were talking about steps taken by both Centre and state government in aftermath of the outbreak.
Mangal Pandey was appointed as Bihar BJP chief in 2013. Loyal to Bihar’s Deputy Chief Minister Sushil Kumar Modi, Pandey was elected unopposed as Bihar BJP chief. Three years later, Nityanand Rai replaced Pandey as Bihar BJP chief. At present, West Champaran MP Sanjay Jaiswal is heading the Bihar BJP. Jaiswal replaced Nityanand Rai, a minister of state in the Union government, as head of the BJP's Bihar unit in September last year.
Meanwhile, the BJP-JD(U) coalition has seen some tense moments over the ongoing CAA controversy. In January last month, Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar finally broke his silence on the CAA controversy. During a special session of the Bihar State Assembly, Nitish Kumar openly stated that there would be no NRC in the state. “A nationwide NRC would be needless (koi zarurat nahin hai) and has no justification (koi auchitya nahin hai). We do not think any such thing is going to take place. I think the prime minister, too, has spoken clearly on this,” Nitish Kumar said on the floor of the House. More importantly, Kumar also made a statement on the CAA issue. Amid the protests by the Opposition members, the Bijhar Chief Minister said that should there be a consensus, he is open to the idea of debating the CAA in the Bihar state Assembly.
