Union Minister for the Development of North Eastern Region of India, G Kishan Reddy, has landed in controversy over his apathetic response to a reporter’s question on the incidents of violence and unrest in Manipur. In a video that has led to outrage on social media, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader can be seen telling a media person that “Manipur is in the east” and he had nothing to do with what was happening there.
Pushing away the reporter’s microphone at one point, Kishan Reddy asked why he should speak on the Manipur unrest, adding that this is a law and order matter and he is not related to it. “I don’t have the ministry. I am not related to the ministry anymore,” he said. The minister was appointed as BJP’s Telangana state president on July 4, before formally taking charge on Friday, July 21. Apart from his designation as the Union Minister for the Development of North Eastern Region, he also holds the portfolios of Culture and Tourism.
"I am not related to it, and I will not speak on #Manipur": Union Minister for Development of North Eastern Region.
— Nayini Anurag Reddy (@NAR_Handle) July 22, 2023
Ministers feel they are not involved; the CM feels it is just one of many hundreds of cases, while the PM simply says he is sad. Bravo! pic.twitter.com/K1NCGGEshs
Meanwhile, the ruling Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) and the opposition Congress in Telangana have slammed Kishan Reddy for his nonchalance on the subject of Manipur. Hitting out at the BJP leader at a press meet on Saturday, BRS leader Dasoju Sravan said, “Manipur is burning. Videos surfacing on social media reveal the kind of violence happening there. Women are being paraded naked. The whole nation is raising concerns after the video was circulated, but Kishan Reddy who is a Minister of Development of the North East Region landed in Hyderabad to celebrate his appointment as the party president of Telangana as if nothing happened and he is not responsible.”
Congress MLA Seethakka also condemned Kishan Reddy’s apathy towards Manipur, and questioned the decisions he made after assuming the position of BJP’s state unit chief. “[Kishan Reddy] could have organised his rally to the 2BHK bedroom site later or earlier, but he instead chose to conduct the rally after a horrifying video of sexual violence [in Manipur] surfaced. As a Development Minister of the region, he should have gone to Manipur. But he did not even try to learn about the incident, and instead created drama at the protest site saying he was arrested. He has no ethical values and must resign for not being able to give assurance to the people of Manipur,” she said.
Seethakka also alleged that the BJP government was creating communal tensions among people across the country. It is shameful the Prime Minister had to react only after the video surfaced online two months later, she added.