Damoh: A day after a video surfaced purportedly showing Union Culture Minister Prahlad Patel telling a man who sought an oxygen cylinder for his ailing mother that he would get "two slaps", his office on Friday said the clip was heavily edited to portray him in a bad light.
Sharing the full video of the incident, a representative of the minister said Patel was only placating the man and reprimanding him for using an expletive.
While the opposition Congress has taken swipes at Patel over the incident after the edited clip was shared widely, the Union minister did not react to the accusations.
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Patel, who is the MP from Damoh, was inspecting the district hospital there on Thursday, two days after oxygen cylinders were looted from the facility, his office said.
In the video, the man is seen approaching him and saying that his mother, a COVID-19 patient, needed an oxygen cylinder.
She was told she would get one after 36 hours, but it is yet to be provided, the man can be heard telling the minister.
The man is next seen raising a finger at Patel and using an expletive, to which the minister gestures at him to lower his finger, and said, "If you spoke in this manner, you will get two slaps (Aisa Bolega Toh Do Khayega)."
The man then replies that he is ready to accept the slaps. "Tell me what to do," he is heard asking.