Image Courtesy:frontline.thehindu.com
Bangalore South MP Tejasvi Surya, reportedly went back to the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) run Covid-19 war room in his constituency, to apologise. According to a news report in News18, Surya apparently told those working in the war room that he had “nothing personal against” any of them, adding “If anyone or any community is hurt emotionally by my visit, I apologise for that. I wanted to probe the bed allocation scam which had come to my notice, but if my actions had hurt anyone, please accept my apologies.” This is more of a non-apology given how he fails to accept that what he did was wrong, and instead turns the tables on the affected individuals with the classic “if” apology.
The report quoted Shivu Naik, project manager of the Crystal Infosystems and Services, the agency that had hired and delegated manpower for the war rooms of the BBMP, who explained that 212 employees were deployed for: indexing, home isolation, discharge team, bed allocation and helpline, and they worked on different shifts, in different wings.
Previpously, Tejasvi Surya had arrived at the Covid war room with three BJP MLAs, one of whom is his uncle, and was grilling officials. Surya read out a list of names of people posted in the Covid facility – all Muslim, and then asks, “Who are all these people? First shift, second shift, night shift. 17 people in the list in three shifts. I will read the list. What was the process of hiring? 17 people. Who are these people?” His uncle, MLA Ravi Subramanya, then made communal remarks such as, “Have you appointed them for the madrassa or for the Corporation?… Who is this person, Madam? How can he appoint 17 members like a Haj committee?” However, as News 18 reported, all those people were never working together in any shift or any team.
Surya, had claimed this was a “bed-blocking scandal” and also exposed its own communal agenda when he read out names of only 17 Muslims out of the 212-member team employed at the Covid war room. Tejasvi Surya’s apology comes probably on the advice of party leaders who must have reminded him that he had blamed the civic body, which is governed by his own party.
He made sure to take to social media to thank Karnataka CM BS Yediyurappa for his “unstinted support in efforts to correct irregularities in bed booking system.”
I thank Honble CM Sri @BSYBJP for his unstinted support in efforts to correct irregularities in bed booking system.
Under his leadership, we will ensure robust, efficient & transparent process will be implemented on war footing to serve people of Bengaluru.
Thank you, Sir. pic.twitter.com/4MkYfVx5bM
— Tejasvi Surya (@Tejasvi_Surya) May 7, 2021
Of course Surya also faced flak from right thinking citizens who are all doing their best to help each other survive the Covid-19 crisis, shortage of hospital beds, ventilators, ambulances etc. According to Naik, it was “perhaps it was because work was suffering that Surya came again,” though even he is not really sure. According to the news report, the south zone staff was “apparently worried that since some were taken for prolonged police interrogation, the 16 members named were labelled as ‘terrorists’ in many social media posts; they thought they could be detained too for any reason.”
Tejasvi Surya may have ‘apologised’ to the war room staff, but can he be trusted? Remember, he once referred to Muslims as “puncture wallahs and illiterates”, and commented on anti-Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) and the National Register of Citizens (NRC) protests saying “Mughal raj” will return if the “majority community” was not “vigilant”. In October 2020, Indians in Europe and various other collectives called for the removal of Tejasvi Surya as a speaker at a conference hosted by the Indian Consulate in Hamburg. They said Surya had “a divisive agenda against non-Hindu communities which is against the European ethos of equality, diversity and inclusivity” and that “ goes against the European responsibility under international laws such as the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights among others.”
Related:
What is the purpose of Tejasvi Surya’s communal tilt to BBMP “bed blocking
K’taka HC directs Centre to increase state’s oxygen quota
Covid-19: Karnataka unable to dispose of the dead, even as people struggle to survive