Samajwadi Party leader slammed for calling Manipuri climate activist "foreigner"

It was an awkward moment for Samajwadi Party leader Manish Jagan Agrawal after he mistook climate activist Licypriya Kangujam to be a foreign tourist. Agrawal had tweeted a photo of the 10-year-old activist from Manipur to take jibe at the Yogi Adityanath government in Uttar Pradesh. The activist had earlier shared a photograph showing plastic pollution near the Taj Mahal. Mounting an attack on the Yogi government, the politician wrote in Hindi, “Foreign tourists are also forced to show mirror to BJP-ruled Yogi government.” He added, “This filth is a bad stain on the beauty of the Taj Mahal. It is very shameful for foreign tourists to show mirror to the government. This image of India and UP has been created by the BJP government.”

Kangujam later responded to the Agrawal’s tweet and pointed out that she was a proud Indian and not a foreigner.

Hello Sir,
I'm a proud Indian. I'm not a foreigner. 🙏 https://t.co/KBshDFJzQM

— Licypriya Kangujam (@LicypriyaK) June 22, 2022

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The Samajwadi Party leader responded by saying that he was mistaken due to some misleading media reports.

Later, Agrawal corrected his mistake and re-shared the photo of Kangujam at the Taj Mahal and wrote that the activist was referred to as a foreigner by a news channel.

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The incident drew flak on social media, with several people criticising Agrawal for not verifying his facts before tweeting. Reacting to the incident, a user pointed out, “In your orginal tweet logo of this news channel is missing , did you really took it from news channel? Or now just blaming them to prove your self clean.”

In your orginal tweet logo of this news channel is missing , did you really took it from news channel?
Or now just blaming them to prove your self clean.https://t.co/acNs0jd9mj pic.twitter.com/oZmKQNgA9w

— Tarun Gupta (@TarunKGupta2) June 23, 2022

Many slammed the leader’s ignorance.

Height of being ill- informed!

How can responsible citizens in India afford to not know people like @LicypriyaK #morepowertoyou https://t.co/L6WOzy4Uiu

— Tanaya Sadhukhan (@TanayaSadhukha) June 24, 2022

Some stated that they felt sorry for the people in North-East India, who are often mistaken for being foreigners.

Feel sorry always for the people of North East. https://t.co/0QfYYqd5MN

— NAJEEB FAROOQنجیب فاروق (@najibfarooq) June 24, 2022

Licypriya Kangujam later shared that the the Agra Municipal Corporation had imposed fine of Rs 1 lakh on the authority responsible for keeping the area surrounding the Taj Mahal clean.