- Friday, April 19, 2024
By: Shubham Ghosh
THE ruling party of the eastern Indian state of Bihar was left to face an embarrassment after one of its lawmakers was found moving around on board a train bound for national capital New Delhi in undergarments. A massive controversy erupted after a video of the scantily-dressed state lawmaker went viral.
Gopal Mandal, a legislator of the Janata Dal(United) of state chief minister Nitish Kumar, was travelling to Delhi in Tejas Express which he boarded on Thursday (2). The politician was seen arguing with some fellow passengers in the video which was beamed across news channels and portals across India. Mandal’s co-passengers reportedly objected to his “roaming around” in his vest and underpants. The railway police force (RPF) had to be called to settle the issue.
“The matter was sorted out as the melee led to the RPF being called and record the statements of myself and the hostile co-passenger,” Mandal told reporters.
Why was he in his undergarments in public?
Mandal said he was suffering from dysentery and no sooner did the train left Patna, the capital of Bihar, that he felt the need to urgently move his bowels. “I ripped off my kurta and pyjama and made a dash to the toilet,” he said, adding that his co-passengers had “over reacted” to his act.
“On the way, I was accosted by this self-righteous man. I shoved him away and after relieving myself I confronted him. I admonished him saying he should have looked at my age. I am 60. He spoke of female passengers feeling uncomfortable though no woman or girl was inside the compartment,” the member of Bihar legislative assembly said about a man who objected to his attire.
The legislator also claimed that he suspected that the co-passenger was “drunk”, which has not been confirmed by railway and police sources in Patna. Sale and consumption of alcohol is banned in Bihar.
“The man finally realised his mistake when he learnt that I was an MLA. I also pointed out to him that I was wearing knee-length shorts and not mini-sized briefs, which could leave people scandalised,” Mandal, who later reached Delhi, said.
However, the opposition in the state was not convinced and accused him of “bringing a bad name to Bihar”.
“I am not aware of the full episode. But I must say it is incidents like these that are responsible for Bihar’s poor reputation. I wish the chief minister, who is now left with just a handful of MLAs, could spend some time tutoring the public representatives on public conduct,” Chirag Paswan, a parliamentarian of the opposition Lok Janshakti Party said.
Rashtriya Janata Dal legislator and chief spokesman Bhai Virendra said, “The so-called sushasan babu (a sobriquet of ‘Mr Good Governance’ given mockingly to Nitish Kumar by party supremo Lalu Prasad) should take note of such foul behaviour. The state keeps getting a bad name for myriad reasons.”
