Senior BJP leader Uma Bharti, in a series of contentious statements delivered recently, has said that the bureaucracy of the country is fit only to pick up the slippers of the politicians.
In a video that has been widely circulated on social media, Bharti can be heard saying, "Bureaucracy is nothing. Bureaucracy is there to pick up our chappals. It picks up our slippers. We only agree to that."
The remarks were reportedly made before a delegation of persons representing the Other Backward Classes (OBC), who had visited the former Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Bharti's home on Saturday, 18 September.
"It's all nonsense that bureaucracy controls the politicians. They can't. What is their aukat (standing)? We are giving them a salary, we are giving them postings, we are giving them promotions and demotions. What is their standing? The truth is we use them for our politics," Bharti can be heard saying in the video clip.
The senior BJP leader has courted controversy in the past as well, and is among the party members who had been accused in the Babri Masjid demolition case.
Reacting to the BJP leader's comments, Madhya Pradesh Congress Committee General Secretary KK Mishra took to Twitter to note:
"Minister Omprakash Sakhlecha ji said – bureaucracy is running the government, Uma Bharti ji said – officers pick up our slippers and shoes, what is their status?"
"Will Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan clarify whether bureaucrats actually pick up slippers of politicians," Mishra was quoted as saying by NDTV.
(With inputs from NDTV)
(At The Quint, we question everything. Play an active role in shaping our journalism by becoming a member today.)