Why Bihar's union ministers make news for wrong reasons

“Tumhara wardi utarwa denge (Will get you stripped of your uniform),” Union Minister Ashwini Choubey, who is a BJP MP from Buxar in Bihar, scolded a police officer during one of the Janata Durbars held in his parliamentary constituency.

Choubey not only humiliated the cop publicly but reprimanded him for booking one of his supporters. A case has now been registered against the Union Minister for threatening a police official and obstructing him from discharging his duties.

The Union Minister of State for Health, Choubey, has been more in the news for the wrong reasons. Recently, his son and daughter-in-law were charged with speeding away in the vehicle without paying fine (for not using a seat-belt) during a vehicle-checking drive in the state capital.

Last year, Choubey’s son Arijit was booked (case No. 176/18) for brandishing a sword during Ram Navami procession. The Union Minister had then resisted the police’s attempt to arrest Arijit saying: “Why should my son surrender? Is saying ‘Jai Shri Ram’ a crime? Even Mahatma Gandhi said ‘Hey Ram’. The FIR lodged by the police is a waste paper and should be thrown in the dustbin."

Choubey is not the only Union Minister who remain in the news for wrong reasons. Giriraj Singh makes headlines mostly for his acerbic statements. A couple of days back, he had reprimanded a sub-divisional officer (SDO) who did not get off the vehicle when the Union Minister was taking stock of the flood situation in his parliamentary constituency Begusarai.

Last year, Union Power Minister RK Singh, who has been retained in Modi’s team after he won from Ara in 2019 again, was found to have remarked: “Gala kaat denge, case karke jail bhej denge (Will slit throat, lodge a case and send him to jail) if anyone is found indulging in malpractices in development projects in my constituency.”

The no-nonsense Singh, who also served as Union Home Secretary before becoming a BJP MP and Union Minister, is credited with improving roads and power scenario in Bihar where he earlier served as a bureaucrat.