After Congress leader Rahul Gandhi had spread his canard over Manipur leaders being asked to take off their shoes while entering the residence of Union home minister Amit Shah, the chief minister of the state N Biren Singh hit back at him and ostensibly referred to him as a “lapdog.”
Taking to twitter, Biren Singh said: “It’s an aged old tradition in Manipuri culture to remove our shoes while we enter somebody’s house. Those lapdogs spreading it to be some form of insult are oblivious to Manipuri culture. Mr Rahul Gandhi may kindly take note of some Manipuri culture before speaking about Manipur.”
Rahul Gandhi, in his reply to the Motion of Thanks on the President’s address, among other things had said:
“I want to say one more thing in my speech after which I demand an apology from the Home Minister. This represents a general idea of a Union of States versus the idea of a King. A few days ago, some political leader came to me from Manipur and he was very agitated. I spoke to him. I said, ‘Why are you agitated, my brother’? And he said, ‘Rahul Ji, I have never felt as insulted as I have a few days ago’. I said, ‘Why’? He said, ‘Rahul Ji, a delegation of Manipuris- senior leaders went to see the Home Minister. Outside his house, we were told to take our shoes. And when we went inside his room, we found that the Home Minister was wearing his chappals’.”
“In the Home Minister’s house, the Home Minister can wear chappals but a delegation of Manipuri politicians cannot. What does this mean? I am not lying. I can show you the photo. I told that person, ‘You are lying’. He told me that he will give me the photo and he gave me the photo. This is not the way to deal with the people of India,” the former Congress president added.
