New Delhi: While Prime Minister Narendra Modi is describing the hardships being faced by people standing in long queues outside banks and ATMs as “maha yagna” and “shuddhi yagna”, Delhi BJP party chief Manoj Tiwari is seen making fun of them in a YouTube video that went viral on Tuesday.
The video shows Mr Tiwari sitting with a group of BJP functionaries and workers at the residence of Leader of the Opposition Vijender Gupta for a New Year’s get together on Monday. Senior BJP leaders and Union minister Kiren Rijiju, Ravi Shankar Prasad, and J.P. Nadda had also attended the get together. The Union ministers reportedly left before Mr Tiwari came and began entertaining the guests and the host with his songs on the plight of people standing in queues.
In a light-hearted manner, Mr Tiwari can be seen narrating to his audience an incident when he went to meet people standing in a queue.
“Mein gaya tha, ab socha kya bolu jisse log khush honge (I went where people were standing in long queues and I started thinking what do I say to make them happy).”
He said that he broke into a song then: “Deshbhakt hain katar mein (all patriots are standing in queue).” After this he tried to ape the reaction of people standing in the queue. He made faces, shook his head and said, “Everyone became very serious and began to nod their heads.”
At this all the BJP functionaries sitting around him, including Mr Gupta, burst into fits of laughter.
Some even started thumping the table. Amidst guffaws, Mr Tiwari sang the song to his BJP friends: Desh bhakt hain katar mein. Lagi hain bhari bhir. Taqlifon se saj rahin, Bharat ki taqdeer (Patriots are standing in queues. There’s a huge crowd. India’s destiny is being created by people’s pain). Mr Tiwari then gesticulated and claimed that impressed by his performance, people told him, “Hum lagen rahenge tees tak aur baad mein behi (We’ll stand in the queues even after December 30).”
There was a huge roar of laughter from Mr Tiwari’s audience and the BJP state unit president looked impressed by his own act and performance in public. When contacted over the phone, Mr Tiwari maintained that he had done no wrong.
Speaking to this newspaper he said, “I have not made fun of people standing in the queues. Instead, I called them patriots. Look at the video, I have done no wrong.”
The newly-appointed BJP Delhi unit president, whose grand plan to distribute laddoos to the people standing in queues had failed to take off, tried to blame AAP’s “dirty tricks department” for the YouTube video.
Reacting to the video, the AAP accused Mr Tiwari of making light of difficulties in the wake of demonetisation.
Delhi water minister Kapil Mishra shared the video clip on Twitter which went viral across the social media platforms. Sharing the clip Mr Mishra wrote, “Explosive sting of Manoj Tiwari making fun of Delhi people... Shameless and disgusting.”
It was retweeted by deputy chief minister Manish Sisodia and hundreds of others.
