Karnataka Law Minister JC Madhuswamy was caught on camera abusing officials, on Thursday, calling them “rascal”, among other things. In a video of the incident that is being circulated, the minister is also heard saying that he will kick them if they do not do their jobs well. The incident took place in Tumakuru while Madhuswamy was addressing a Karnataka Development Programme (KDP) meeting on Thursday.
In the video, the minister is heard to be saying, “If I kick you, do you know where you will land, rascal? Am I here to tend donkeys? What did I tell you? You did nothing. Why didn't you do it? Which soap do you buy to wash your wife's clothes? Rascals-- what have you thought? Last time, I had told you (to finish the work). Why wasn't it completed?”
He added, “Please write a resolution. Suspend all these fellows, keep them under suspension. Tell them to suspend that Tumkur guy”. In the video, the minister while alleging that the engineering department was not doing its job well is heard saying that he would transfer their work to another department if they don’t buck up. During the KDP meeting, Madhuswamy was questioning why the department was not performing well.
So far, there has been no response from either the minister in question or the Karnataka Government.
This is not the first time that the minister has courted controversy by verbally abusing people. In May 2020, a video had gone viral when Madhuswamy had visited a lake in Kolar. A woman had come up to him and alleged encroachment of the lake, to which the minister responded, “Aye, muccho bayi rascal (Aye, shut your mouth, rascal)”.
Several people shared the video online, condemning the minister. Opposition leader K Siddaramaiah had called for B S Yeddiyurappa to drop Madhuswamy from the cabinet. This was not the first time that his removal from cabinet was called for, however. In November 2019, when he was the MLA of Chikkanayakanahalli in Tumakuru, members of the Kuruba community reacted angrily when he allegedly dropped the name ‘Kanakadasa’ from a circle in Huliyar. Though Madhuswamy was urged to apologise by B S Yeddiyurappa, he refused, earning the ire of the public.