Manas Dasgupta
NEW DELHI, Jan 3: Did the union home minister Amit Shah dubbed the prime minister Narendra Modi “mad?” That is the interpretation the former leader of the opposition in the Lok Sabha Mallikarjun Kharge and other opposition leaders made from a video of the Meghalaya governor Satya Pal Malik going viral on the social media.
Within hours of the video becoming viral, Malik issued a clarification claiming that Shah meant no disrespect for the prime minister and advised Kharge and other opposition leaders not to “jump” over it and feel ‘pleased.’ “This is an internal issue of the BJP. The Congress should not jump into this and indulge in politics.”
The 75-year old Mali, currently the governor of Meghalaya, had become a vehement critic of the BJP since the Modi government adopted the three contentious agricultural laws, which have since been repealed, and the farmers launched sit-in protest on the borders of Delhi that lasted for about a year till Modi announced his government’s decision to withdraw the acts in November.
On Monday, the video of Malik that went viral showed him talking about his meeting with Modi before he announced repealing the acts. “When I recently went to meet the Prime Minister over the farmers’ issues, I picked up a fight within five minutes… I told him 500 people have died… He asked – ‘Have they died for me?'”
“I told him yes, since you are the king. Anyway, I ended up having a fight with him. He told me to meet Amit Shah and so I did,” he is heard saying in the clip. Malik further says – “When I met Amit Shah, he told me ‘Satya, he has lost his mind. You be carefree and keep meeting us’.”
The opposition parties latched on to his comments. The Congress MP Kharge tweeted the video with the scathing comments, “Meghalaya’s Governor Sri Satya Pal Malik is on record saying PM was ‘arrogant’ on the issue of Farmers & HM Amit Shah called the PM as ‘mad’. Constitutional authorities speaking about each other with such contempt! Narendra Modiji is this true?”
As the clip created a huge uproar, Malik, within hours, offered a clarification. “The Prime Minister was not ready to listen… He tried to dismiss my concerns… and said ‘meet Amit Shah’. Amit Shah respects Modi ji a lot. He told me that people misguide the Prime Minister. ‘One day PM will understand this (the farmers’ contention with the three laws)’, I was told. I want to clarify that Mr Shah did not say anything about the Prime Minister with ill intent. He only told me that my concerns will be understood,” Malik said.
In November, just days before farmers marked one year of their protest against three contentious laws, Modi had apologised in an address to the nation, and said the three laws would be revoked. The clampdown, critics said, came just ahead of elections in five states, including Punjab and Uttar Pradesh where the issue had been raging since 2020.
“Modi ji canceled the laws when he understood the concerns. If he would have heard me earlier, the political backlash and the loss of lives could have been avoided,” Malik said. “But better late than never. The BJP should not be rigid in its approach. The PM’s cancellation of laws… people have now accepted. Earlier the resentment against him had grown which has now lessened.”
To the opposition parties latching on to his comments, he has just one message – “This is an internal issue. Congress should not jump into this and indulge in politics.”
