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Union Minister of State for Home Ajay Kumar Mishra Teni, who continues to be a member of the Union council of ministers despite his son's alleged involvement in the Lakhimpur Kheri incident on October 3, 2021, where eight people died and several others were injured in the bloodiest clash since the farmers protest began last year.
On Wednesday, December 15, 2021, Teni got into an alteraction with journalists in the ugliest scenes involving a Union minister since Narendra Damodardas Modi became prime minister seven years ago.
Please click on the images to view what transpired.
IMAGE: Teni loses his temper after journalists ask him about his son's involvement in the Lakhimpur Kheri tragedy. All photographs: ANI Photo
IMAGE: A memorandum submitted by the journalists accused India's minister of state for home -- no less! -- of scuffling with them and snatching a reporter's mobile phone.
IMAGE: Incited by the journalist's question, Teni lunged at the scribe.
He is heard calling the media 'chor', or thieves, and angrily asking a journalist to switch off his mobile phone.
IMAGE: 'Don't ask questions like a fool. Have you lost your mental balance (dimag kharab hai kya)?' Teni is heard saying in Hindi. 'You turned an innocent person into an accused. Aren't you ashamed?'
IMAGE: Meanwhile, banners demanding that Teni resign were brandished in the Lok Sabha on Wednesday.
So far, Prime Minister Modi has been unmoved by demands for Teni's dismissal. Maybe that will happen after the Uttar Pradesh assembly election.
The Modi-Shah duo may not want to further anger UP's Brahmins by removing a Brahmin minister weeks before voters cast their votes to elect a new government in the state.
Photographs curated by Manisha Kotian/Rediff.com
Feature Presentation: Mahipal Soni/Rediff.com
