State Forest Minister Dindigul C Sreenivasan is facing severe criticism for asking a boy from a tribal community to unbuckle his shoes while he was visiting the Mudumalai Tiger Reserve. The video of the incident is now going viral on social media and many are accusing the Minister of being discriminatory.
In the video, Sreenivasan can be seen surrounded by a group of party people, Nilgiris Collector J Innocent Divya and the police. He calls out to the boys who are not pictured at that moment in the video. When they don't respond to the first time he calls, he along with the others around him can be seen urging the boys to come who were seemingly hesitant to do so. But after repeated 'enga vada' (come here), two boys can be seen moving towards the Minister as he points to his shoes and says, "Buckle yedu (remove the buckle)".
When one of the boys bends down, a person from another part of the crowd yells out 'Aye Thambi', presumably unaware that the Minister had himself called him, Sreenivasan says, "I only called him."
The other boys watched as his friend removed the buckle and then moves away as the minister proceeded to the shrine.
The minsiter was at Mudumalai Tiger Reserve to inaugurate a rejuvenation camp for captive elephants when the incident occurred. Now that the video is viral, the Minister is being criticised by activists and the general public for his rude behaviour. He is also being accused of ill-treatment of the tribal children through his actions.
