Bhubaneswar: Odisha minister Rabi Narayan Naik Monday triggered a controversy after a viral video showed him being carried on the back of his personal security officer (PSO) during a visit to a landslide-hit area in Kandhamal district.
While opposition parties called his act “insensitive” and questioned his treatment of security personnel, the minister’s office said he took help from his PSO to protect his injured leg, which was bandaged.
Odisha Pradesh Congress Committee president Bhakta Charan Das said, “The minister being carried on the shoulders of his PSO to avoid getting his shoes soiled in the muddy water while visiting a disaster site in Kandhamal reveals a complete lack of sensitivity.”
The people of the state are deeply distressed by the panchayati raj minister’s conduct, especially at a time when residents of Ganjam, Gajapati and Kandhamal districts are enduring immense hardship due to disasters caused by floods and landslides, he said in a statement.
BJD spokesperson Dr Lenin Mohanty said the minister’s act was “not only astonishing but also deeply disturbing”.
It raises serious questions about human dignity, the treatment of security personnel and the functioning of the state government, Mohanty said.
When contacted, the minister’s office rejected the allegation and claimed that the opposition could not understand the physical condition of the minister who, despite having a bandage on his leg, visited the disaster-hit people in Kandhamal.
“The minister walked all along the route to the landslide area, but took help of his PSO to protect the bandage on his leg. He did not do it with any ill intention or to show rude behaviour to anyone. It is often seen in places that a patient takes help of someone else while climbing a step of a difficult road,” a staff member of the minister’s office said.
The BJD spokesperson, however, claimed that the state’s BJP government appeared to be increasingly burdened by its own internal contradictions, administrative confusion and lack of coordination.
He said the incident involving Naik has exposed how disconnected those in power have become from ground realities.
The BJD leader said in the aftermath of cyclone Arnab, the people of Ganjam and Gajapati districts have been facing severe hardships due to “a man-made disaster arising from administrative failures and inadequate disaster management”.
“The growing frustration among ordinary citizens is evident from the public resentment and heckling faced by MLAs and ministers during their visits to different parts of the state,” Mohanty said.
This reflects the increasing disappointment of people with the government’s performance and its failure to respond effectively to their concerns,” he claimed.
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