Jharkhand Congress Minister’s ‘Obscene Talk’ Video Stirs Political Storm In State

Jharkhand health minister Banna Gupta is in the eye of a raging storm over a video of a sleazy conversation he was allegedly having with a woman going viral.

The video, which was posted by BJP’s Godda Lok Sabha MP Dr Nishikant Dubey on his Twitter account, shows a person alleged to be Gupta, clad in a sleeveless vest, indulging in a sleazy sex chat with a woman on the other end of the line. 

The video has spurred vociferous calls by the BJP for his resignation and put the Congress party, which is a junior partner in the Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM)-led ruling alliance, in a tight spot. 

Gupta has challenged the authenticity of the video and claimed that it is doctored. He has lodged a complaint with the cyber crimes police station at Jamshedpur against unknown persons for circulating a “fake video”. 

But there are few takers for Gupta’s claims of innocence. The video, prima facie, looks authentic and the person seen in the video is definitely Gupta. BJP MP Dubey has asserted that the video is “100 per cent genuine”. 

The JMM has publicly asked the Congress to take a call on the controversy. But in private, the top JMM leadership is learnt to have told the Congress that it would like Gupta to resign on his own till his name is cleared. 

BJP leaders have appealed to state Governor C.P.Radhakrishnan to sack Gupta. 

The Congress leadership, however, is playing it safe. It does not want to ask Gupta to put in his papers as yet. State Congress chief Rajesh Thakur said that the video could be a “political conspiracy” against his party and Banna Gupta. 

Banna Gupta is no stranger to controversies. He was caught on camera last year threatening a police inspector and warning him that he would be suspended within half an hour (watch this video). 

Gupta drew a lot of flak last month for his remarks asking people to have chicken when there was an outbreak of bird flu in the state. “Whenever there is bird flu, I have more chicken. There is no danger of having infected chicken. Just cook it very well,” he said (read this). 

Gupta was strongly criticised by even JMM leaders for his “irresponsible remarks”. 

In January 2021, he had opposed emergency-use approval given to Bharat Biotech’s ‘Covaxin’ and said that “people should not be used as laboratory rats”. He was then seen as opposing the rapid rollout of the vaccination programme that saved millions of Indian lives. 

The health minister has often rocked the ruling alliance in the state with his loose comments and actions. In February last year, he triggered a serious crisis by alleging that Chief Minister Hemant Soren was “trying to finish the Congress in Jharkhand”. 

“He (Soren) wants to finish our party and capture our support base,” he had said while alleging that the four Congress ministers in the state cabinet were never consulted by the chief minister on important issues. 

It took a lot of efforts by the state and central Congress leadership to placate and angry Soren who had demanded that the Congress ask Gupta to resign. 

Gupta faces corruption charges also. One of these is alleged illegal payments of Covid incentives to himself and his close aides (read this).