It is a common sight to see politicians getting preferential treatment. But on Monday, the spirited response of a young girl surprised Karnataka Home Minister MB Patil when he and his entourage tried to enter a temple in Vijayapura district. “You should be like normal people standing in a line, right?” asked a young, college-going girl.
The Home Minister was visiting the 770 Amaraganadishara temple on the occasion of Mahashivaratri around 11 am on Monday when the incident took place. Even as people stood in a queue to offer their prayers at the temple, MB Patil and his entourage arrived at the temple and attempted to supersede the waiting devotees to quickly offer their prayers.
Undeterred by the sight, a young girl waiting in the queue objected to this and asked the Minister to stand in the queue to offer his prayers.
The minister was caught off guard but quickly recovered his poise to state that he was running late for a flight and hence, he was not standing in the queue at the temple. “I wanted to stand in queue always but today, I have two programmes in Hubballi and then I am boarding a flight to Bengaluru,” MB Patil said.
The Home Minister further added that he had waived privileges of zero traffic accorded to him.
The explanation appeared to convince the girl, who also posed for photographs with the minister.
In a social media post, the Home Minister later admitted that he was proud to meet the spirited girl who asked a minister to follow rules.
BRAVE MINDS WILL BUILD OUR NATION
— M B Patil (@MBPatil) March 5, 2019
“Proud to have met a daring girl who asked a minister to follow the set rules. The incident took place at our BLDE university campus temple. Education is the tool which is developing such strong mindsets. https://t.co/QtIa5qdavJ
“I wouldn’t have met this spirited girl if scores of people were not waiting for me at a function in Vijayapura. Keep growing intellectually dear students,” he added.