Rajasthan Congress MLA Divya Maderna Rajasthan Congress MLA Divya Maderna

In a video of Congress MLA Divya Maderna that has gone viral, the Osian MLA can be seen asking a woman sarpanch to vacate the chair beside her and sit on the floor among the locals.

The incident took place on March 16, when the MLA had gone for a ‘Dhanyawaad Sabha’ in Khetasar village under her constituency Osian in Jodhpur.

In the video, a woman, identified as Khetasar sarpanch Chandu Devi, goes on and sits next to Maderna, who immediately gestures and asks her to sit on the floor. Devi then leaves the chair.

Devi’s husband Rooparam told The Indian Express, “Chandu initially sat on the floor but then people said she should sit next to the MLA, since she is a sarpanch. So she then went to sit with the MLA but the MLA gestured her to go, so she left her chair and sat among the people for the rest of the sabha.”

“Devi did not protest as she is a simple lady and did not want to disrespect the MLA, who had come to the village for the first time. It was Dhanyawaad Sabha after all. Yes, some people are angry over it,” Rooparam said. In a video statement put out by his wife, however, Devi says that she is stressed over the video. Talking to journalists, Maderna said that she had gone to a Congress Sabha and that the woman was a BJP worker.

Maderna, a first time MLA, had defeated BJP’s sitting MLA Bhera Ram Chaudhary in the elections held in December. She is the daughter of jailed Congress leader Mahipal Maderna, who is behind bars in Bhanwari Devi murder case.

However, this is not the first time her video has gone viral. At least two other videos involving her have gone viral. In a video, also from Jodhpur, she is seen pulling up a police officer, telling him, “The government has changed and the MLA has changed, working style hai na dhillam dhillu, woh badal dijiye (change your lethargic working style).”

In another, she is seen pulling up a Jodhpur SDM, asking him when he was in another village. “Aisa hai, main ek baat bataun, Jodhpur zile mein aur Rajasthan mein, sarvapratham toh hain mukhyamantri, aur phir Jodhpur mein hum. Mukhyamantri ji ke wahan jao toh mujhe samajh mein aaye ki urgent kaam aa gaya; nahi toh Jodhpur ke andar Osian mein Vidhayak yahan par hai, hum janta ke hain, aap pata nahi kaunsa urgent kaam karne gaye they…I will not tolerate this mister. Aap mujhe dhundiye, main prashasan ko dhunde nahi jaungi (In Jodhpur district and in Rajasthan, first and foremost is the Chief Minister, then there’s me in Jodhpur. So I would understand if you have to go to the CM for something urgent work; but the MLA is here and I don’t know for what urgent work you went…I will not tolerate this mister. You search for me I will not search for the administration).”

She then directs him to resolve the issue of a local in “fifteen minutes” and give her a “report.” People around her start chanting ‘Divya Maderna Zindabad.’

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