New Delhi: Union minister for tribal affairs Jual Oram on Friday (August 28) alleged that there was a campaign to defame him in order to remove him from the Union cabinet and said that he will “chop off the hands” of those who try to tarnish his reputation.“Some people are spending money and plotting conspiracies to defame me by spreading a smear campaign against me. They believe that if I am dropped from the Union cabinet, it will create an opportunity for them,” Oram was quoted as saying by The Indian Express.While Oram did not take any names, he said that he had built the party in the state with his “blood and sweat” and if anyone tries to touch his reputation he has the ability to “chop off their hands”.Oram’s remarks came after he met the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)’s general secretary (organisation) Manas Mohanty. Oram said that some leaders who had joined the BJP from other parties were trying to defame him and hit out at such attempts.“I challenge those working against me to face me politically. You will see what will be their condition,” he said.Oram’s remarks on Friday came after Rourkela police arrested Prakash Paswan, his representative on charges of harbouring criminals in the government-run Circuit House, The New Indian Express reported. On August 20, state BJP president Manmohan Samal had suspended Paswan from the state executive committee of the BJP Yuva Morcha.Also read: We Cannot Smash Patriarchy Wthout Smashing Caste: Is Gen Z Ready?On August 22, Oram had acknowledged that Paswan was one of his active workers and representative to the Rourkela Municipal Corporation and said on X there should be an impartial probe into the matter.Oram said that while those who had joined the party from other parties were trying to destablise him he had raised the matter with the BJP’s general secretary Mohanty and if it is not resolved at the state level he will also approach the central leadership.Oram is a six-time MP from Sundargarh who first won Lok Sabha polls in 1998. In his second term as an MP in 1999, Oram headed the tribal affairs ministry in the Atal Bihari Vajpayee government. He was again made minister in Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s first term in 2014 and then in 2024.The opposition Biju Janata Dal (BJD) and Congress have questioned Oram’s threat of violence.“From the language used by the Union minister, it is clear that a conspiracy has been hatched against him, which has left him disturbed. This clearly indicates that the internal conflict within the BJP has reached an extreme level,” BJD spokesperson Lenin Mohanty was quoted as saying by PTI.“Oram is openly declaring that he will take the law into his own hands. How is this comment justified?” Mohanty said.Odisha Pradesh Congress Committee (OPCC) president Bhakta Charan Das said that there is no place for violence in India.“Oram’s remarks intend to hamper the investigation (into his aide’s case),” he said.“There is no place for violence in India, the country of Gandhi, which fought for freedom through non-violent means and removed foreign rule.”