Bhopal diary

Stuffed tiger guards dargah against monkeys
In Madhya Pradesh, a stuffed tiger has been tasked with guarding a famous dargah against the menace of monkeys. A ‘tiger’ has been put at the dargah of Baba Peer Fateh Ullah Sahab in Raisen district to scare away monkeys which also vandalize the property at the dargah, including CCTV and other critical systems. According to the Raisen Shahar Qazi Zaheer Uddin, monkeys have stopped coming to the dargah after the ‘tiger’ was put on duty. However, as many devotees are clicking selfies with the ‘tiger’, the dargah administration fears that the monkeys may soon get the trick. 

Case against Digvijaya, Congress social media team 
Police have registered cases against the social media managers of Congress and Rajya Sabha member Digvijaya Singh for tampering a video related to CM Shivraj Singh Chouhan. The former chief minister is one of the most vocal critics of the BJP government. Madhya Pradesh CM’s official twitter handle @OfficeofSSC had tweeted a video of his programme that was held at Sitamau Mandi premises in Mandsaur district on September 20. The same video was allegedly tampered later and shared by the Twitter handles of MP Congress and Digvijaya Singh, after which a Sitamau based BJP leader and advocate Kamlesh Sharma submitted a complaint in the matter. A case was subsequently lodged in the matter under Sections 465 and 469 of the Indian Penal Code, the police said.

Face masks turn into books for primary schoolchildren
With the primary schools still closed across the state due to the Covid-19 pandemic, a primary school teacher Ajay Soni in Madhya Pradesh’s Katni district has come up with a novel idea to educate kids. He has turned the plain white face masks into books for basic education. These masks feature basic alphabets, names of days of the week, names of months, names of festivals as well as synonyms and antonyms on the face masks. Children enrolled in the primary school of Latpahari village are now learning the basics of Hindi and English languages by reading the masks.

Minister says sorry for no mask comment
Madhya Pradesh Home Minister Narottam Mishra, 60,  has never been seen wearing any face mask at public gatherings, despite dozens of his ministerial colleagues and MLAs having tested Covid positive. When asked by journalists on Wednesday about it, Mishra responded, “I don’t wear a mask at any program, so what.” After his statement stoked a controversy, he expressed regret. “My statement on not wearing a mask appears to be a violation of the law. It wasn’t in line with the sentiments of the PM. I accept my mistake... I’ll wear a mask and appeal everyone else to wear it and follow social distancing,” Mishra later said.

anuraag singh
Our correspondent in Madhya Pradesh singhanuraag.jaurno@gmail.com