UP officers again at the receiving end

In a remark that came as a shock to officials, a senior Uttar Pradesh minister said he would “hang upside down” any official found involved in corrupt practices.

“Jis kisi ne paisa manga hai, main usko ulta latka doonga aur uski chamdi udehr doonga (Whoever demands money, I will hang him upside down and skin him),” UP minister Shivakant Ojha said at an official function in Pratapgarh district on Tuesday.
The minister said the state government was committed to root out corruption and would not tolerate it.

Babus miffed

The minister’s remarks triggered widespread resentment among the officials present at the function.

“The minister has no right to use such words. It is as if all of us are corrupt,” said a district official. Ojha, however, justified his remarks saying the corrupt should be given a stern message.

Earlier also an UP minister had said anyone who accepted bribe for doing work would be ‘shot’.

UP ministers are infamous for sticking their foot in the mouth. In the past also, they have caused embarrassment to the Samajwadi Party leadership and Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav with their utterances.

Recently, Transport Minister Durga Yadav stunned people at the Republic Day parade by saying he had ‘cheated’ in the examinations as a law student.

“Maine BA aur LLB (Bachelor of Law) mein nakal jaroor kiya tha par meri rajiniti original hai (I had used unfair means at my BA and LLB examinations but my politics is original),” Yadav had said much to the shock and dismay of the crowd that included a large number of schoolchildren and teachers.

Some time back, UP Minister for Basic Education Ram Govind Chaudhary had, at a teachers’ function, openly advocated corporal punishment to children at schools. “I too used to be beaten by my teacher at school. Physical punishment is essential for making the students disciplined,” Chaudhary had said.