In a video interview with The Wire‘s Saahil Murli Menghani, Romanian Mayor Anghel Mihai spills the beans on the viral video of his spat with Union minister Jyotiraditya Scindia.
He says it was Indian students who put that video out and not him. Mihai says Indian students clapped for him in Scindia’s presence when he confronted the Union minister and asked Scindia not to disrespect him, which Scindia did not like.
Mayor Mihai also says that Scindia made a bad PR speech and if the minister would have spoken to him in advance, he could have helped Scindia make a good PR speech. The mayor says India sending a minister to Romania made no difference and that India didn’t communicate effectively with its students.
The mayor says he got angry because instead of answering questions from students, Scindia began talking about a dog, and seeing Scindia focusing on a dog over human got him riled up. The Mayor reveals that Romania and not the Indian government arranged shelter and Indian food for the students.
The mayor asks The Wire to connect him to Scindia so that he can invite him for a talk. The mayor says Scindia’s conduct could have led to a diplomatic stand-off but he refrained from taking it up diplomatically for the sake of students. Mayor Mihai says he’s been getting a lot of hate from a section of India’s social media but he has already forgiven them and invited them to visit Romania. The mayor says Scindia is not his enemy but need to learn how to behave in a foreign land.
