By Vimal Sumbly-
CHANDIGARH: Health Minister Madan Mohan Mittal is a healthy minister. He is indeed physically and mentally fit to be a minister. Even fit to indulge in a duel with journalists or compare himself with Lord Krishna. At times he gets childishly annoyed too. Getting annoyed too frequently is certainly not any symptom, but just an attitude.
Whether it be his comparison of himself with Lord Krishna or folding his cuffs to have duel with journalists for asking inconvenient questions or his spar with his junior and enterprising Chief Parliamentary Secretary Health Dr Navjot Kaur Sidhu and now getting childishly annoyed with a gentleman Additional Director General of Police GS Sahota just because he chose to receive him on the stage in front of public and not come down instead, our health minister's list of idiosyncrasies is getting longer day by day.
Friday’s incident in Jalandhar with ADGP Sahota was at best hilarious and at worst provocative. It is high time the minister is also asked to submit to and follow a standard protocol. One day he humiliates the journalists, the other day the Chief Parliamentary Secretary and now the ADGP in front of scores of his juniors.
Mittal reprimanded senior IPS officer Sahota, ADGP PAP, for not according him a red carpet welcome on his arrival at the PAP on Friday afternoon. Mittal was scheduled to inaugurate the 30-bed community health centre constructed at a cost of Rs 5 crore at the PAP complex to provide medical facilities to over 1160 families of the policemen of the PAP living in the complex.
Mittal was expecting a welcome he was accorded at the civil hospital where Civil Surgeon Dr. RL Bassan had touched his feet as soon he alighted from his official car at the civil hospital complex. May be he expected the ADGP also to do so.
Just a week ago, the minister compared himself with Lord Krishna to explain his meeting with the Congress legislators who were boycotting the assembly proceedings. Not only did he compare himself with Lord Krishna, but also described the Congress legislators as Kauravs and the ruling alliance as Pandavs, who, according to him, were wrong and righteous, respectively.
Mittal has continuously and consistently maintained an eccentric and idiosyncratic behavior unbecoming of a “cabinet minister” as he proudly boasts of being. High time Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal advises him about the ministerial protocol and behavior with others. If this is his attitude with a senior police officer, his immediate subordinate or media, how would he be dealing with the commoners?
