LUCKNOW: Having a penchant for kicking up rows with his statements, state fisheries minister and NISAHD party chief, Sanjay Nishad, has done it again. While visiting one of the flood-hit villages in Kanpur Dehat area, the minister told villagers that the Ganga river was reaching their doorsteps to "clean their feet."
A video of Nishad's visit to the Kanpur Dehat area quickly went viral. In the video, the minister is seen surrounded by a group of people, one of whom is talking about how deep inside the house the water had reached.
Responding to the villagers' concern, Nishad said, "Ganga Maiya reaches your doorsteps to clean your feet, and this will take you directly to heaven."
However, the minister got a retort from the villagers who told him to stay with them in their flooded houses and get the river Ganga’s "blessings."
With the state in the grip of floods and rising levels of rivers Ganga and Yamuna spreading panic in several parts, Nishad’s remarks raised eyebrows.
The remark was seen as insensitive and drew the Opposition's ire on social media.
The remark quickly triggered a response from the Uttar Pradesh unit of the Congress, which shared the clip on X and wrote: “The minister himself lives in a posh area of Lucknow; forget Ganga, not even a drain flows by his doorstep. So, does this mean it should be inferred that the minister will go straight... there?”
As the video went viral, Nishad reportedly clarified that his remarks were made in a lighter vein. "I was on a visit to a flood-hit area of Nishads where, while interacting with them, I said that for seeking salvation, people from faraway places come to take the holy dip in the Ganges — and here, Ganga Maiya was right at their doorstep," the minister told media persons.
"We Nishads worship rivers — our source of life and livelihoods. So the remark has its own context," the minister added.
Apart from Congress, Samajwadi Party spokesperson Sharvendra Bikram Singh also slammed Nishad for his remarks. "He is not aware of the ground reality and the situation in which flood-affected people are living. The state government has failed to provide relief to the people, and its ministers are looking for photo opportunities," he said.
Singh added that at a time when people were losing their homes and livelihoods due to floods, such statements showed how disconnected UP ministers were from ground reality.
Several parts of Uttar Pradesh, including Lucknow, Kanpur, Prayagraj, and Varanasi, have been in the grip of massive waterlogging and floods triggered by heavy rain, and water has also been entering homes in low-lying areas.