Sitharaman's speech disrupted, Cong claims anger, Chandrababu says enthusiasm

A brief period of shouting by a crowd during Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman's speech at Andhra Pradesh's Madanapalle has turned into a political contest over what the disruption was really about. The Congress claimed it was anger over jobs, while Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu trashed those claims, saying it was enthusiasm among the people of Rayalaseema.A video clip from the October 2 event in Madanapalle, where Sitharaman was speaking about an agriculture project, went viral online. The video shows Sitharaman trying to calm the people and Naidu stepping in. After Naidu's intervention, Sitharaman completed her speech.Some of those who shared the video claimed that the disruption was caused by people in the audience who were demanding jobs. Congress leader and Rajya Sabha MP Jairam Ramesh shared the clip, describing the scene as a sign of "public anger".Chandrababu Naidu, Sitharaman, Andhra Pradesh minister and TDP leader Nara Lokesh, and BJP leaders rejected that interpretation. They said the crowd was enthusiastic about the leaders on stage, and that Naidu intervened to restore order. The audio in the clip, however, does not make it clear why exactly the crowd was shouting.What is audible is Sitharaman repeatedly asking people to listen to her before Naidu steps in and asks them to sit down. His remarks indicate how he interpreted the situation at the venue. "Please listen to me for one minute," Sitharaman told the gathering repeatedly.Naidu then took over. "Please sit down. What you are doing is not right," he told the crowd. He said the programme was about bringing change to the lives of Rayalaseema farmers and stressed the importance of the Union Minister's message.Rayalaseema is the southern part of Andhra Pradesh, and is a chronically drought-prone region.RAISE SLOGANS LATER, NOT NOW: CHANDRABABU NAIDUThe video shows Chandrababu Naidu walking to the lectern and calming the sloganeering crowd."Please sit down. I understand your enthusiasm. But please sit down," Naidu said. He then told the gathering that he and Deputy Chief Minister K Pawan Kalyan would come out after the programme. "Then, if you want, you can raise as many slogans as you want. But not here. Please sit down," Naidu said.At one point, he also asked people who had climbed onto a railing to get down. "Hey, brothers, please get down," he said. Naidu said that he was telling them to sit down for their own good. "We are telling you this respectfully, so you should also show respect," Naidu said, before again asking the crowd to sit quietly.It is this intervention that has become central to the competing narratives around the incident.The October 2 programme in Madanapalle was held for the launch of the "Global Horticulture Hub - Rayalaseema Rising" project. Naidu and Sitharaman laid the foundation stones for the Rs 1 lakh crore horticulture hub and the Indian School of Agriculture.JAIRAM RAMESH CALLED FM INCIDENT PUBLIC ANGERThe video was shared on X with claims that the crowd had been shouting "give jobs first". Congress leader Jairam Ramesh then reposted it and described the scene as evidence of public anger."The Finance Minister herself is seeing how much anger there is among the public. The Chief Minister had to silence the people," Ramesh wrote in Hindi.The Congress leader's post became the basis for a series of responses from leaders of the ruling alliance in Andhra Pradesh.Replying directly to the Congress leader's post, Sitharaman said, "Unbelievable, Jairam. Didn't think you were impetuous. Both TDP and Jana Sena Party workers were keen on interacting with their leaders N Chandrababu Naidu garu and Pawan Kalyan garu. Hon. CM said that after the programme they would come out and interact. That was all there is to it." Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman herself responded to Jairam Ramesh's X post. Naidu responded to Ramesh's interpretation and rejected it outright, saying it was far removed from what had happened at the event. "Jairam ji, your interpretation of what happened could not be further from reality," Naidu wrote on X."What you are trying to falsely portray as public anger was, in fact, an overwhelming and enthusiastic response from the people," he also said. Naidu said the crowd's enthusiasm had prompted him to intervene so that the programme could continue. "The sheer enthusiasm of the gathering required me to intervene briefly so that the programme could continue smoothly," he said.Chandrababu Naidu accused Ramesh of misreading the mood of the gathering. "To mistake people's enthusiasm for anger only reveals how disconnected you are from the mood of the people of Andhra Pradesh and Bharat alike," Naidu wrote."Politically motivated social media narratives cannot change what people themselves felt and expressed!" the Andhra Pradesh CM said on X, tagging Jairam Ramesh.NARA LOKESH ACCUSED CONGRESS OF SPREADING FAKE NEWSNara Lokesh, Andhra Pradesh's IT Minister and TDP leader, took a more direct approach in responding to Jairam Ramesh. "This is how fake news is manufactured - and then amplified by senior Congress leaders without even bothering to verify the facts," Lokesh wrote.He rejected the claim that local youths had disrupted Sitharaman's speech to demand jobs. "There was no disruption of the Finance Minister's speech by local youth demanding jobs. The claim being circulated is completely false," he said.Nara Lokesh described what happened as "a normal interaction with an enthusiastic gathering" that had been "deliberately clipped, twisted and given a fabricated narrative".He also questioned why Jairam Ramesh had not verified the circumstances before posting the video. "Deliberate misinformation is not on. Delete the lie," Nara Lokesh added.BJP TARGETS CONGRESS OVER ANDHRA EVENT CLIPMeanwhile, Andhra Pradesh BJP president PVN Madhav has also echoed Nara Lokesh, saying political conclusions were being drawn from a clipped video without first checking what had happened at the event."What actually happened at the event is very different from the narrative being circulated," Madhav wrote on X. He said a "routine interaction with the gathering" had been presented as "an organised protest over jobs".Madhav also pointed to another video from the event, saying it showed the same crowd cheering during Sitharaman's speech and thanking her. "There was no disruption of the Finance Minister's address by protesting youth. They were cheering for and supporting their leaders on the stage," he said."Rayalaseema's aspirations for investment, employment and economic growth deserve a serious discussion, not a narrative built around your selectively cut video and a misleading interpretation," the BJP leader wrote.He referred to the proposed Rs 1 lakh crore Horticulture Hub as an example of the investment that could be discussed in the context of farmers, industry and employment.The BJP's official X account also joined the exchange, accusing the Congress of turning what it described as public enthusiasm into a controversy."No answer to Congress's mindset: It's so rattled that it's even turning the public's enthusiasm into a controversy!" the BJP wrote.The episode has therefore produced two sharply different readings of the same footage. The political dispute has moved beyond the brief interruption itself to the interpretation placed on it. While the Congress amplified a clip to claim public anger over jobs, the Andhra leadership and Sitharaman have accused the party of spreading disinformation.- Ends(Written by Anand Singh)