A video surfaced on social media showing the BJYM chief suggesting that 17 Muslim volunteers of the BBMP’s south zone unit may be responsible for the lack of beds in the city.
A day after he alleged a Covid-19 bed allocation scam in the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP), BJP MP from Bengaluru South Tejasvi Surya got involved in another controversy after a video surfaced on social media showing the BJYM chief suggesting that 17 Muslim volunteers of the BBMP’s south zone unit may be responsible for the lack of beds in the city.
The video doing rounds on social media shows Surya being present in the BBMP’s south zone war room, reading the names of 17 Muslim volunteers and then asking an official on what basis they were hired.
The BJP MP was accompanied by his uncle and Basavanagudi MLA Ravi Subramanya, Chickpet MLA Uday Garudachar and Bommanahalli MLA Satish Reddy. All of them were seen in the alleged video accusing officials in the war room of being partial to Muslims.
Out of total 205 employees, @Tejasvi_Surya reads out 17 Muslims who were part of BBMP South Bangalore War room. He later ask if this was a 'madrassa'. Later, all 17 were sacked.
THIS IS THE REWARD MUSLIMS GET IN INDIA FOR THEIR SELFLESS SERVICE. pic.twitter.com/9wFwvvnrbK— Mohammed Zubair (@zoo_bear) May 5, 2021
Tejasvi Surya can be heard in this video seeking the qualifications of the 17 Muslim volunteers and then objecting to a women BBMP officer explaining that the 17 were sent by a recruiting agency. Responding to her, Surya says, “Which is that agency? Call them now. I want to ask them.”
Meanwhile, Surya’s uncle, Ravi Subramanya, can be heard saying, “Is this a madrassa?”
Surya is also heard saying in the clip if “they (Muslim volunteers) were recruited for a corporation or a madrasa”.
Reportedly, out of 205 members in the BBMP south zone war room, only 17 were Muslims.
As soon as the video went viral on social media, the BJP MP faced ire from people for “communalising” the issue.
Congress leader and former chief minister Siddaramaiah tweeted urging Surya to seek treatment for the “communal virus in his brain”.
“Tejasvi Surya, why are you extending your dirty habit of dragging caste/religion to everything from the food we eat to human life, even to the Corona disease? The communal virus in your brain is more dangerous than coronavirus. Please seek treatment for it,” Siddaramaiah tweeted.
“Tejasvi, Satish Reddy and Ravi Subramanya, your covert operation to expose Covid mismanagement should not be conducted against the officials of the BBMP, but against the Chief Minister, and other ministers, Karnataka BJP lawmakers and MPs. Protecting the big whales,” the Congress leader added.
“Have some shame @Tejasvi_Surya. If you & the BJP Govt cannot help, at least don’t spread the communal poison to hide your failures,” Congress MLA from Shivajinagar, Rizwan Arshad, said.
What is the BBMP bed ‘scam’?
BJP MP Tejasvi Surya on Tuesday claimed that he had unearthed a scam going on in the south BBMP war room.
The BBMP war rooms are responsible for allocating reserved Covid-19 beds to patients to call for help. According to the BJP MP, for the last two weeks, anyone who called was told that there was no bed available.
The MP also said “Bribes are being taken to allocate Covid beds. An unholy nexus of BBMP (Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike) officers, Arogya Mitras, and certain private agents is behind this scam,”
Elucidating on the scam further, Surya said that beds were booked in the name of asymptomatic patients in home isolation. “After the bed is booked, if the patient doesn’t get admitted in 12 hours, it is automatically unblocked for other patients. In this 12-hour window, agents contact patients looking for admission and divert the beds to them. We contacted multiple people in whose names beds were blocked and found that they had recovered long back they were not aware that beds were booked in their name,” he said.
He also said that his office tipped the police about one such instance. “My office has tipped off the police in an instance after which an accused was arrested,” Tejasvi Surya said to reporters.
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