BJP leader threatens African man, asks him to learn Hindi; faces backlash
A BJP Councillor from Patparganj allegedly threatened an African national. The man who was threatened reportedly teaches football to children and has been living in India for the past 15 years. BJP ward councilor, Renu Chaudhary, reportedly asked the man to learn Hindi if he wants to continue staying in India and use the MCD park. She herself posted the video of her interaction on her social media. Soon the video went viral and she was forced to issue a clarification on the matter.
New Delhi: In a shocking video posted on Instagram, a Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) councillor was seen threatening an African man and warning him that he should learn Hindi. The woman councillor was identified as Renu Chaudhary. She has posted the video on her Instagram page and now it has gone viral, for all the wrong reasons.
Councillor threatens African man, then clarifies
Chaudhary is a councillor from Patparganj Ward 197. In the video shared on her Instagram page, she can be heard telling the African national, "You still haven't learnt Hindi. Why didn't you? If you don't learn Hindi within a month, you will be barred from using the park."
When her warning is met with laughter, from people standing around her, she retorts that she was not joking. According to her account, she had asked the man, who is a football coach, to learn Hindi, around 8 months back. But he reportedly did not comply.
The African national has been living in India for the past 15 years.
The woman councillor told the man that if he wanted to earn money in India, he must know the national language of the country also. The woman said that she had warned him earlier also, but the residents of nearby societies, whose children come to learn football from the foreigner, requested her to give him time to learn Hindi. She said that this was th reason that she allowed him to continue teaching football to the kids from the area.
Councillor faces people's wrath online
After the video was posted, it went viral in no time and people started attacking the woman councillor. They questioned her authority and asked how she could openly threaten someone, no matter who the person was.
Following the online backlash, Chaudhary was forced to offer a clarification. She said that she had not visited the park to threaten anyone. She claimed that she had gone there only because municipal corporation workers had said that they were not able to communicate with the African national who did not speak Hindi. She said that she had only gone there to make him understand that he needs to pay revenue to the MCD, if he was using the park.
The woman claimed that she wanted the African coach to pay revenue to the department, as he was using the park for commercial activities. She also claimed that she offered to help him arrange a Hindi tutor.
Defending herself, she said, "I don't think whatever I said was wrong. Most of the people in our country speak Hindi, so there is nothing wrong (for foreigners) in learning the language."