Lucknow: BJP MLA from Uttar Pradesh’s Bahraich, Anupama Jaiswal, has landed in controversy again, this time for dancing at a Ganesh puja pandal at a time when more than 70 children and infants from her city have died the last 45 days due to fever.
The video, which claims to be from a recent Ganesh puja event, has gone viral on the social media. It shows Jaiswal dancing in a red saree while holding her husband’s hand.
When this reporter called up Jaiswal regarding the video, a female voice answered the call and after listening to question, handed over the phone to a man who claimed that the MLA was busy in puja.
Defending Jaiswal, he said: “There are always some people who find problem in everything. All workers the workers were present in the programme and madam (Anupama Jaiswal) was sitting on the stage. One worker came forward and held her hand while the other hand was held by her husband. She did not dance, she was just standing there. If just standing on the stage is a crime then this won’t happen in the future,” the man said on behalf of Jaiswal.
The children’s ward in Bahraich’s district hospital is currently brimming with patients, with three children being treated on a single bed. At least 68 children have been reported dead in the city in the last 45 days.
Amid growing number of fever cases, the hospital is facing shortage of facilities. Admitting to the shortage, authorities at Bahraich district hospital are now looking up to the state government for assistance to meet the requirements.
The Opposition parties were quick to attack the BJP government on Wednesday, calling the incident “insensitive”. Speaking to news18, Samajwadi Party spokesperson and MLC Sunil Singh Sajan said, “Last year when around 60 kids had died in Gorakhpur, the ministers of the Yogi Adiyanath government in UP had blamed it on the month of August. This time more than 60 kids have died and the public representative is dancing, no matter what the occasion is. This shows how insensitive the Yogi government is and how serious it is towards the common people.”
UP Congress spokesperson Anshu Awasthi said the “practice” by the BJP and its leaders is “nothing new.” “Even after scores of kids died at Gorakhpur’s BRD Hospital, Gorakhpur Mahotsav was organised and a dance programme was also held. Similarly, if an MLA is dancing and children in her constituency are dying, it can be well understood how sensitive this government is towards the sentiments of people. In another incident, the CM had gone to the accident site and started shouting at people instead of consoling them.”
Jaiswal is not new to controversies. In May this year, she had triggered outrage for saying that despite “mosquitoes biting them all night”, ministers visit Dalit homes to ensure that they get benefits of government schemes.
“First time a government has been made for the youths, for the women and for the common man. We have initiated schemes to uplift every section of the society. And for this every minister is working really hard. We are spending nights at homes of Dalit people where we are stung by mosquitoes, yet we are doing it,” Jaiswal had said.
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