A youth on Tuesday threw ink at Union Minister of State for Health and Family Welfare Ashwani Kumar Choubey when he was about to board his SUV after meeting dengue patients at the Patna Medical College and Hospital (PMCH).
The youth, Nishant Jha, however, managed to escape.
“The ink was thrown on public, democracy and the pillar of democracy,” said Mr. Choubey. “I condemn this act done by some lumpen elements nursing political ambition… the ink was thrown at journalists also”, he said while coming out. His SUV and the bodyguard too had sprinkles of ink.
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Later, the youth told a private news channel that he belonged to the Jan Adhikar Party (Secular) of former MP from Madhepura Rajesh Ranjan alias Pappu Yadav. “But, I threw ink at the Minister in my personal capacity as I was perturbed over the rising number of Dengue patients in the city and the government’s apathy to contain it”, he said.
Mr. Yadav said later, “I have come from Delhi only this morning… and this incident should not be linked with my party as we do not know Nishant Jha. But this reflects the public outrage against the government”.
After prolonged waterlogging in some areas of Patna from September 28 to October 6, the number of patients of dengue and gastro-enteritis had increased manifold at the government-run PMCH. On Monday, a seven-year-old died of dengue and several policemen at the policeline are said to be suffering from it. Sanjiv Chaurasia, a local BJP MLA, too is recuperating from the disease. The local civic and health department are engaged in fogging and sprinkling of bleaching powder to check spread of dengue but local residents said these were proving to be inadequate.
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