On Tuesday, Congress MLA Brihaspati Singh made a controversial and derogatory remark against tribals when he called them ‘illiterate’.
Chhattisgarh Congress MLA Brihaspati Singh addressed media persons at his residence on Tuesday to clarify the allegations he had put out against state health minister TS Deo and his relatives over assaulting and planning to kill him.
As journalists asked him specific questions, the Congress MLA lost his cool. He launched an attack on the journalists, saying that they were educated and should not ask questions like “Anguthachhaap Adivasi” (illiterate tribals).
#WATCH | “You’re journalists, you’re educated. It’s not right to ask questions like ‘Anguthachap Adivasis’… Set your mental state right & then ask:Chhattisgarh Cong MLA Brihaspati Singh on question over apologizing after murder allegations against Health Min TS Singh Deo(03.07) pic.twitter.com/Jndr4w6sUV
— ANI (@ANI) August 4, 2021
“You are journalists, you are educated. It’s not right to ask questions like ‘Anguthachap Adivasis’. Set your mental state right and then ask,” the Chhattisgarh Cong MLA Brihaspati Singh said as journalists asked whether he would apologize for making sensational murder allegations against Health Minister TS Singh Deo.
Earlier in July, the Congress MLA Brihaspati Singh had made a sensational claim saying he is facing a threat to his life from Health Minister TS Singh Deo. The allegations had rocked the assembly last week, and the journalists were asking him questions on the same.
Tribal associations demand an apology from Congress MLA
Meanwhile, tribals associations in Chattisgarh are outraged against the statements put out by the Congress MLA Singh. Members of Chhattisgarh Sarva Adiwasi Samaj (SAS) protested over the MLA’s statements and gave an ultimatum to the Congress leader.
SAS Sarguja Divisional President said that Congress MLA Brihaspati Singh has been given an ultimatum to apologise over the remarks otherwise a censure motion would be passed against him across the Sarguja division on International Tribal Day.
The major opposition Bharatiya Janata Party also condemned the anti-tribal remarks made by the Sarguja MLA and burnt his effigy. BJP leader and Rajya Sabha MP Ramvichar Netam attacked the statement of the MLA and said that it was the tribal community that had voted Singh into power and Singh making such statements against the community is a display of his own mental status.
Chhattisgarh’s Congress MLA accuses TS Deo of planning to kill him
On July 26, Congress MLA Brihaspati Singh had accused the state health minister TS Deo and his relatives of assaulting him and planning to kill him. The sensational claims made by Brihaspati against Deo’s kin had turned into a massive political furore and intensified the infighting within the political party.
The Congress MLA had said that while he was on his way to Ambikapur for an event, a relative of TS Deo chased his convoy and snatched keys from the driver of one of the cars before vandalising it. Brihaspati claimed the man kept asking for him, but he had already left.
Following the incident, a case was filed by the police under the Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe Prevention of Atrocities Act and sections of the Indian Penal Code. Three people have been taken into custody in the case.
Following the alleged attacks, Brihaspati Singh had alleged that the attacks were carried out because his remarks on the procedure to elect the chief minister of the state did not sit well with the Health minister. He added that Deo was secretly harbouring the desire to become the next chief minister and was unhappy with his comment that the party high command will decide the state chief minister.
