Romanian Mayor Mihai Anghel has reacted to the viral video of him having a verbal spat with the Indian Aviation Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia. He told that the minister spoke to students arrogantly at a shelter for people evacuated from war-hit Ukraine.
In an interview with The Quint, Mayor Anghel said, “Our team received 157 Indian students. We received little help from the Embassy here and all the food and other necessities were provided by us. The citizens of the Snagov region provided all of it. Then I saw this gentleman walk in the late evening, appearing full of himself with cameras, and addressing the students in a very arrogant tone. He was as if prepared to present a PR speech, and not comfort the students who had just fled war and wanted to go home.”
The Mayor claimed, “During Scindia’s address, the students were not informed about the flight and schedule.” He added that the minister was talking about everything he had done in the evacuation so far.
He further said, “These kids weren’t treated with dignity at the borders and the speech was an addition to that. It really put me off. He hadn’t provided any of the necessities for these students and came here and disrespected me when I asked him for details about their flight home.”
When asked by The Quint on Mayer losing his composure, the Mayor said, “I was not angry. As many people think..I lost my cool because I was sad for those kids. I heard so much about what they went through at the border and they shouldn’t be used for some PR shoot. I didn’t know that he was the Aviation Minister. I would have done the same if I knew. I was compelled to call his behaviour out. You can’t come to my country, my home, and disrespect us.”
As the video was widely shared online, Anghel claimed he had received messages with threats and abuses from Indian social media users.
He has blocked all the accounts from which threats and abuses were given. Still, Anghel is surprised at this trolling that happened to him. He said that he did not expect that he would be threatened for showing kindness to the students.