Biplab Deb

NEW DELHI: Tripura chief minister (CM) Biplab Deb 's foot-in-mouth disease hasn't abated it seems.

According to Times Now, when Deb was asked about four mob lynchings that occurred in Tripura last week his response was nothing short of bizarre - "look at my face, how happy I'm feeling".

He went on to say, among other things, that his "is a government of the people and the people will take action".

Last week, four murders, three of which were cases of lynching, occurred after rumours that there were child-lifters on the prowl.

It appears he was evading the question about lynching by talking about how happy he is that Agartala Airport is being renamed Maharaja Bir Bikram Manikya Kishore Airport.

But his comment that "the people will take action" certainly couldn't have been to do with the renaming of the airport after a former king Bir Bikram Manikya Kishore.

Here's what he said in Hindi, in its entirety.

"Tripura mein ek anand ka leher chala hua hai. Aap bhi is leher ko upbhog kijiye. Aap ko anand aana chaiye... mera chehra dekhiye... mujhe kitni khushi ho rahi hai. yeh sarkar janta ka sarkar hai, janta action legi."

(A wave of happiness has washed over Tripura…you too should experience it. You (too)should be happy. Look at my face, how happy I'm feeling...this government is a government of the people and the people will take action. Today's day is in honour of Maharaja Bir Bikram.)

Deb is a repeat offender. A couple of monhs ago he said the Internet existed even in the days of the fictional Mahabharata. He also said a former Indian Miss World Diana Hayden doesn’t represent Indian beauty, and only Aishwarya Rai does.

"Indian beauty should ideally look like Goddesses Lakshmi and Saraswati. Diana Hayden did not deserve to win the Miss World crown. Actually, it was part of a fixed plan which was hatched keeping in mind the interests of the international market. Aishwarya Rai’s victory was well deserved as she represents the quintessential Indian woman," said Deb.

IN May, Deb said if anyone criticises his government "their nails need to be chopped off.

"It shouldn't happen that with my government, somebody points fingers at it or scratches it with their nails. Anyone who scratches it, their nails should be chopped off," said Deb in a speech, the video of which was tweeted by ANI.

The CM used the analogy of what a vegetable vendor goes through to illustrate his point.

"A vegetable seller brings fresh bottle gourd to market at 8 in the morning. By 9 am, so many people have touched it, it gets so many nail marks that it can't be sold. Then it must be either fed to a cow or taken back home. I will not allow that to happen to my government," he said, going on to then say critics' nails should be chopped off.

