Udhgagamandalam: Tamil Nadu Forest Minister Dindigul C Sreenivasan on Thursday kicked up a storm after he allegedly asked a tribal boy to unbuckle his slippers before entering a temple.
The Forest Minister was at the hill station for the inauguration of a rehabilitation camp for captive elephants in Mudumalai Tiger Reserve (MTR).
The video, which has gone on viral on social media, shows the AIADMK minister directing the boy to remove his slippers before entering the temple near the camp.
After receiving directions, the boy removed the slippers amid the presence of the crowd while the district collector and other officials remained mute spectators.
The Minister has been receiving flak on the social media with people condemning the incident and seeking action against the minister under the Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe Act.
“A state forest minister makes a tribal boy remove his slippers so that he can enter a shrine in Tamil Nadu. The 21st CENTURY, it seems,” wrote a Twitter user Ashmita Nandy.
“Brazen act of caste supremacy from TN Minister Dindugal Sreenivasan. Calls tribal boy to remove the buckle on his slippers during the inauguration of rejuvenation camp for captive elephants in Mudumalai Tiger Reserve,” another Twitterati, Priyanka Murthy wrote.
“This is disgusting and cruel!#ADMK minister Dindigul Sreenivasan is ordering a boy to take off his slippers. We are seeing an inhuman act! How can he get such ideas in the first place? Goes to show how Heartless! Are we living in the 21st century? This government hits another new low,” George Vijay wrote on Twitter.