Animal husbandry minister Giriraj Singh at the janata darbar in Patna on Wednesday. Picture by Nagendra Kumar Singh

Patna, June 8: Whispers seemed to be the order of the day at the weekly janata darbar of animal husbandry minister Giriraj Singh. But he did not like them. Murmurs turned him furious.

Several complainants tried a new tactic at Singh’s darbar — whispering in his ears. Tired, the minister got livid. He even shouted at the complainants for doing so.

Despite repeated shouting, the complainants were not ready to listen to Singh. They kept whispering — over and over again.

Sample this: Rupesh Kumar from Gaya district stood up from his chair when his turn came to talk to the minister. He walked up to Singh and started whispering in his ears.

The minister lost his cool. In sharp contrast to Rupesh’s whisper, Singh screamed.

“What are you doing? Don’t whisper in my ears, I really don’t like people whispering to me. You can tell me your problem by sitting in the chair also. What kind of mannerism is this? Don’t you know how to put forward your message?” Singh thundered.

“See, there are other people also who have come with their complaints. But are they whispering? They are not. Then, why are you doing such a thing? This is completely unacceptable,” the minister continued.

After getting the dose from the minister, Rupesh folded his arms in front of Singh and said: “Sir, kindly look into my matter.”

It pleased the minister. “This is the right way to approach. Whispering is not. You go. I will see what I can do,” Singh said.

The Telegraph was inquisitive about Rupesh’s problem that forced him to speak in the minister ears. But his petition was nothing special. It was regarding digging a pond.

As soon as Rupesh left, another complainant repeated the same act, leaving the minister more livid.

Singh told him: “What are you doing? Please don’t do it again. Before you, I have told this to another person. I really don’t understand why you (complainant) are whispering.”

A complainant reasoned to The Telegraph: “I did not want others to listen to my complaint. They may take it in other way and that’s why I preferred to speak in his (minister’s) ears.”

But Singh was not impressed.

“Whispering is a bad habit. All the visitors’ complaints were normal, but they just wanted to ensure that others at the darbar did not listen to them. I don’t think it is the right way to approach. Such behaviour makes me uncomfortable in the presence of so many people,” Singh added.