A video grab showing Suresh Rana eating at Kumar’s house A video grab showing Suresh Rana eating at Kumar’s house

On Monday night, Rajneesh Kumar, 35, a resident of Lohagarh village in Aligarh district, ate a plate of chole bhature at a local market, returned home and slept. At around 11 pm, he was woken up by neighbours, who told him that a minister wants to eat at his house. Since Kumar’s family was away at a family function, no food had been prepared. He does not know where the plates and mineral water bottles were sourced from for Suresh Rana, the minister of state for sugarcane development, but said the food was arranged through a caterer. He did not even eat with the minister, he told The Indian Express.

While Rana’s visit has triggered a controversy, the minister said it was he who had expressed a last-minute interest in eating at a Dalit’s house. He denied having eaten food from a dhaba or restaurant, adding he had breakfast at a Dalit’s house the next day as well. Kumar said, “I had locked the door and was sleeping. At 11 pm, someone banged at my door and said that a minister wants to eat. I opened the door and there was a huge crowd outside.”

He further said, “For a minute, I could not understand what was happening. I did not even have food with them. He (Rana) wouldn’t even have known who the owner of the house is. The leaders left after having dinner, which was cooked by some caterer.” Kumar said he could have arranged food for the minister had he been informed of his visit beforehand. “We are not the kind of people who live in a hut. We might not have a lavish lifestyle but if informed in advance, we can arrange food for a few people.”

Currently unemployed but on the lookout for a job, Kumar said, “Even a poor person can feed a handful of people. We have a four-wheeler and a two-wheeler, so we definitely could have arranged a meal for them.” Rana denied the allegations, adding that he had attended a chaupal in the village, and the village head had taken permission for a ‘samuhik bhoj’ (community feast). “The chaupal was arranged by the local MLA Anoop Valmiki and gram pradhan of the village, who belongs to a scheduled caste. But, at the last moment, I expressed a desire to have dinner with a Dalit and since his house was nearby, I was taken there. I did not have any food from a dhaba or a restaurant. I had food which was made for the bhoj, as well as some from that Dalit’s house. Next morning, I had breakfast at another Dalit’s house.”

Rana blamed opposition parties for the “unnecessary controversy”, saying they were “troubled” because BJP ministers were visiting villages at night, solving issues of the public. Anoop Valmiki, the local BJP MLA from Khair Assembly constituency said: “It was about 12 am…so there was some confusion. I belong to a Valmiki community and he (Kumar) is a Jatav…the entire village had come forward to do the preparations. Since one person could not have arranged food for so many people, villagers willingly decided to prepare a community dinner,” added.

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