Agartala: A purported video showing a poor woman washing the feet of a ruling BJP MLA in Tripura drew public ire after it went viral on social media on Friday.
The incident took place when Badharghat legislator Mimi Majumder visited Suryapara, an inundated locality in her constituency in West Tripura district on Thursday night.
The MLA, however, claimed the woman had washed her feet out of love and affection.
In the viral video, the veracity of which could not be verified by PTI, the poor woman, identified as Bharati Debnath, was seen washing the feet of Majumder with soap and water and drying it with a towel after she had completed the inspection of the locality.
Majumder, a former headmistress of Badharghat Higher Secondary School, had joined the BJP only a few days before securing a ticket for the assembly by-elections in 2019.
“The elderly woman washed my feet out of love and affection for an MLA. She did it with motherly care. It should not be seen as something negative. This shows how much respect a legislator could earn from the people by doing good work. In today’s world, no one can be forced to wash anyone’s feet or do anything like that,” Majumder told PTI.
Opposition CPI(M) had shared the video on its official Facebook page with a caption: “A woman had to wash the feet of MLA Mimi Majumder after a photo-shoot.”
The post has garnered 31,000 views, shared 391 times and received 148 comments till Friday evening.
Terming the incident “shocking”, Youth Congress president Rakhu Das said, “It shows the mindset of a ruling party MLA. They (BJP) don’t have sympathy for the people during difficult times. They are busy in photo-shoots for building public image.”
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