Indian Odisha minister who justified getting his security officer to lace his shoes for him by saying “I’m a VIP”, changed his tune later in the day to say he has a health condition that prevents him from bending,media reported.
“My left leg is in a lot of pain, I can’t bend, and hence PSO (personal security officer) volunteered to tie my shoe laces. He is like my son,” said the Minister Jogendra Behera.
“I have been consulting a doctor at a local hospital in Delhi, can show you prescriptions,” Behera said further.
That wasn’t what Behera said when the video of him getting his laces tied started circulating on social media.
What he said then was, “I am a VIP. I’ve hoisted the flag here.”
The incident took place at an I-Day event in Kendujhar on Monday.
This isn’t the first time such an incident has occurred.
In May 2015, the then West Bengal planning and implementation minister Rachpal Singh was caught on camera getting his shoelaces tied by a policeman. At the time, the opposition parties in the state said it was an insult to “human dignity”.
In a 2014 incident, a departmental probe was ordered against then DIG Jammu-Kathua range Shakeel Baig after he was seen making an orderly tie his shoelaces. The DIG’s son had proudly posted the picture on the internet. In January 2014, a Samajwadi Party MLA, Gayatri Prajapati, also made his security guard tie his shoelaces.