Cong leader Mynampally Hanumanth Rao faces backlash for birthday celebration involving schoolchildren
Hyderabad: Congress leader Mynampally Hanumanth Rao sparked controversy after a video went viral on January 10, 2025, showing schoolchildren holding placards wishing him a happy birthday while traveling on the metro.
The incident garnered attention on social media, with many questioning the appropriateness of involving children in a political leader's birthday celebration. This raised concerns and sparked a heated online debate.
Many people online expressed concerns about using schoolchildren for political gestures. One commenter asked, “How low can they go? Which school allows this?” Others were shocked, with one user wondering, “What are these kids doing with signs on the metro for a politician’s birthday?” Many believed involving children in what seemed like a political stunt was an inappropriate way to exploit them for personal gain.
Netizens took to social media to sarcastically question how such events are approved. One comment humorously asked, “Where can I get permission for activities like this? I’m thinking of celebrating like Mynampally did.”
Mynampally Hanumanth Rao, who was born on January 10, 1966, is an Indian politician and former Member of the Legislative Assembly (MLA) for the Malkajgiri constituency in Telangana. He resigned from the Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) in September 2023 and joined the Indian National Congress (INC).
Hanumanth Rao has had a varied political career. He was first elected to the Telangana Legislative Assembly in 2008 from the Ramayampet constituency, which was later abolished. He went on to represent the Medak constituency in 2009 as a Telugu Desam Party (TDP) member.
In 2014, he contested the Malkajgiri Lok Sabha seat as a Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) candidate, finishing second. From 2014 to 2016, he served as the President of the Greater Hyderabad Telangana Rashtra Samithi.
In 2017, Hanumanth Rao was elected unanimously as a Member of the Legislative Council (MLC) from the MLAs' quota. However, in 2018, he resigned from his MLC position after winning the Malkajgiri Assembly seat for the third time with a majority of 74,000 votes.
On September 22, 2023, he resigned from the BRS and joined the INC, where he was nominated as the party’s candidate for the Malkajgiri constituency in the 2023 elections. Hanumanth Rao lost the election.