Agra: Manipuri climate activist Licypriya Kangujam, who was recently in news after an image of her holding a sign about plastic pollution around Taj Mahal went viral on social media, tweeted another picture on Saturday, of the area around the world famous monument, before and after it was cleaned. Recently, an image of her was shared more than a thousand times in social media posts that claim she is a “foreign tourist criticising the Uttar Pradesh government” about the contamination.
Before After pic.twitter.com/R8gtruKJgH
— Licypriya Kangujam (@LicypriyaK) July 2, 2022
On June 21, Kangujam, a 10-year-old climate activist, took to her Twitter handle, to share a photo of trash around Taj Mahal. She held a placard that read, “Behind the beauty of Taj Mahal is plastic pollution”. Her tweet read, “Thanks humans…You may say it’s very polluted but your one piece of polythene bag…one simple plastic water bottle led to this situation”.
Her image went viral few days later, after Samajwadi Party leader Manish Jagan Agrawal tweeted it claiming she is a “foreign tourist criticising the Uttar Pradesh government” about the contamination.
Taking to Twitter, Agarwal posted in Hindi, “Foreign tourists are also forced to hold up a mirror to the BJP-ruled Yogi government. Yamuna River is full of filth under the BJP government, this filth is a bad stain on the beauty of the Taj Mahal. It is very shameful that a foreign tourist is criticising the government, this image of India and UP has been created by the BJP government.”
Agrawal was left red-faced after the Manipuri climate activist confronted him in another post and said she is a “proud Indian”. In another tweet, she also urged to “stop racist attitude towards Northeast people” and said it was “unacceptable”. “Sir, I represented my country 🇮🇳 8th times at United Nations 🇺🇳 till my age of 10 is not to call me a “Foreigner”. Stop such racist attitude towards North East People. This is unacceptable at any cost,” Licypriya Kangujam tweeted.
Sir, I represented my country 🇮🇳 8th times at United Nations 🇺🇳 till my age of 10 is not to call me a "Foreigner".
Stop such racist attitude towards North East People. This is unacceptable at any cost. 😢 🙏💔 https://t.co/mDQooM5eEb pic.twitter.com/SJ9ChTGpPp
— Licypriya Kangujam (@LicypriyaK) June 23, 2022
Plastic pollution have become a major issue for environment and many climate activists have raised the issue before. Highlighting the issue, Licypriya Kangujam had tweeted a photo of plastic trash around the iconic Taj Mahal.
