Assaults by BJP legislators becoming normal in Madhya Pradesh

The ugly incident of assault by BJP legislator Akash Vijayvargiya on Indore Municipal Corporation official was still hitting headlines when a report of a BJP municipal committee president assaulting the Chief Municipal Officer (CMO) of

Ramnagar in Madhya Pradesh’s Satna district came.

According to yet another report Damoh district president of Bhartiya Janata Yuva Morcha (BJYM) Vivek Agarwal threatened to beat Nagar Palika accountant Anil Gupta with a cricket bat.

A photograph went viral on social media in which Agarwal was seen holding a cricket bat. Later, talking to media Agarwal alleged that the accountant was not releasing funds to pay the instalments of PM Awas Yojana beneficiaries in his Ward No. 36. In a veiled warning, Agarwal said if need be, he would also use the bat as Akash has used in Indore.

According to Satna report, BJP leader Ram Sushil Patel, president of Ramnagar Nagar Panchayat, assaulted CMO Devratan Soni with a baseball bat on Friday.

As per Superintendent of Police (SP) Satna, Riyaz Iqbal, CMO received serious injuries in the attack and he was referred to Satna district hospital. On the report of the CMO the police registered a case against Nagar Palika president and seven others.

Later, he was arrested and the police launched a manhunt to nab the other assailants, the SP added. The accused will be presented into the court on Saturday. Adding to IPC Section, a case of attempt to murder was also registered on the instructions of the SP.

Surprisingly, Nagar Palika president reached the police station and alleged that the CMO had beaten him. He was seen soaked in blood. The police were scanning CCTV footage of the office to identify the other culprits.

Sources said that Patel was angry with the CMO as he was not supporting him in the alleged case of PM Awas Yojana scam of Rs. 3 crore in which he was arrested by the police. Since then he was annoyed with the CMO and on Friday he assaulted him in his office.

Earlier ex-minister and MLA Vishwasw Sarang visited court with group of lawyers in support of Akash Vijayvargiya during filing of bail application. The most shocking incident involving BJP leader is that not a single party leader has taken a critical view of these ugly happenings.

On the contrary some leaders including former Minister Narottam Mishra have tried to defend him.

Mishra in his statement said Akash’s motive can be justified but his method cannot be. Embarrassed by the incident, the BJP national leadership has asked the state unit to file a report. Sources say BJP national president Amit Shah has asked the Madhya Pradesh leadership to provide details of the incident and the “role of party and Congress leaders”.

Videos of Akash hitting an IMC official with a bat have gone viral, raising concerns within the party. To add to the party’s unease, a video surfaced on Thursday showing Kailash Vijayvargiya – Akash’s father – telling a news anchor “aukat kya hai tumhari” on being asked about the incident.

Sources say the party leadership is distancing itself from the issue. Former Lok Sabha Speaker Sumitra Mahajan – nine time Indore MP – and former CM Shivraj Singh Chouhan have not spoken on it.

Neither has state party Chief Rakesh Singh who cancelled his Indore trip and flew to New Delhi to discuss the outcome of the incident with the party leadership.

“The party leadership has asked for a detailed report on Akash’s incident. It is upset at the way Kailash Vjaayvargiya reacted after the arrest of his son. This could hamper BJP’s campaign against Mamata Banerjee in Wes Bengal, which is being spearheaded by Vijayavargiya himself.

A day after arrest and subsequent judicial remand of Akash, hundreds of Indore Municipal Corporation (IMC) employees and sanitation workers took out a silent rally and held a demonstration on premises of divisional commissioner office on Thursday.

Civic body employees including zonal officer Dhirendra Bais walked with black ribbons tied around their arms protesting the assault by BJP MLA.

The rally was taken out from IMC headquarters at around noon and employees reached divisional commissioner office at around 12.40 pm. They gave a memorandum to division commissioner Akash Tripathi and demanded police protection for all field staff of IMC.

“We condemn MLAs act against zonal officer of IMC. The incident has raised a safety concern among all regular and contractual staff of IMC” one of the protesting official said.