L S Herdenia.
BHOPAL: The pattern is similar, if not the same. First, a ruling party leader or his kin makes a verbal or physical assault on a government officer or behaves arrogantly, humiliating, abusing or insulting someone. After an uproar, he is summoned to the state BJP office in Bhopal where he is ‘admonished’ for his irresponsible conduct. The party declares that it does not endorse the actions or the words of the leader or his kin. Next, the leader concerned says sorry, helpfully explaining that what he did or said was ‘on the spur of the moment’. And there the matter ends. The offender is not penalised in any way and there is no negative effect on his political career.
The current BJP Government of Madhya Pradesh, headed by Mohan Yadav, had taken over in December 2023. In the 28 months since then, more than a dozen such incidents have come to light. They involved cabinet ministers, MPs, MLAs and other leaders of the ruling party and their family members. And the same script played out again and again.
In May last year, Kunwar Vijay Shah, a senior cabinet minister, made derogatory and communal remarks against Colonel Sophiya Qureshi – one of the faces of the press briefings on Operation Sindoor that followed the Pahalgam terror attack. He called the colonel ‘sister of terrorists.’ “Jinhone humari betiyon ke sindoor ujade the…humne unki behen bhej kar ke unki aisi ki taisi karwayi (They wiped out the vermilion of our sisters, we avenged these people by sending their sister to destroy them),” Shah had said.
The Supreme Court took cognizance of the matter and constituted an SIT to probe it. Earlier, the MP High Court ordered registration of an FIR against the minister. But Shah got away with an apology, which followed an ‘admonition’ by the party. “Sophiyaji is like my sister,” he said. Despite the Supreme Court’s expressions of displeasure, Shah continues to be a minister. For the ruling party, the issue is done and dusted.
Last week, Pritam Lodi, a BJP MLA from a constituency in the Chambal region of the state posted a video message threatening the Sub-divisional Officer – Police (SDOP) of Karera in Shivpuri district saying that he would surround the officer’s house with 10,000 persons and stuff it with cow dung. He also stated that let alone the officer – a member of the IPS – even his ‘Daddy’ cannot stop his son from contesting elections.
A day before, the MLA’s son, driving his Thar jeep, had hit and seriously injured four persons. He explained that he blew the horn but when people did not give way to his vehicle, he decided to run them over! After much back and forth, an FIR was registered against the son. He arrived at the police station to record his evidence in the same Thar. What irked the MLA was that the SDOP fined the vehicle for being fitted with tinted windows and a hooter – both illegal under the Motor Vehicles Act.
Later, the same scene was re-enacted. The MLA was called to the BJP’s state headquarters where the party’s state chief counselled him to behave with restraint. He came out of the office and told the media that he was sorry for saying what he did and that it was an emotional outburst.
The same happened when cabinet minister Kailash Vijayvargiya hurled a vulgar expletive at the correspondent of a leading news channel when the latter posed a pointed question to him regarding the death of 18 persons due to contaminated water in Indore – the minister’s home district. The trajectory the issue took subsequently was eminently predictable. “I am sorry. I didn’t mean it. It just happened.”
The same thing happened when Ganesh Singh, BJP Lok Sabha member from Satna in the state, abused and slapped a crane operator in full public view. In another incident, ruling party MLA from Bhind district Narendra Singh Kushwaha engaged in a noisy and abusive confrontation with the district collector. Kushwaha forcibly entered the collector’s official residence, called him ‘chor’ and raised his hand as if to slap him. The security persons intervened and took him away. The MLA had reached the collector’s residence along with farmers to complain of fertilizer shortage.
Sanjay Pathak, a mining baron and BJP MLA from a constituency in the Katni district made a telephonic call to a High Court judge who was hearing a case related to mining irregularities in which he was involved. After the judge flagged the issue and the High Court took a serious note of it, the MLA appeared before the court in person and tendered an unconditional apology. But the party is yet to take any action against him. In the latest incident, on April 22, the brother of cabinet minister Nagar Singh Chauhan threatened the woman CEO of the Janpad Panchayat of Alirajpur in her office. He told the lady that he would break her teeth and bury her alive. He also declared that his writ would run in the office. “Yahan job hi hoga meri marzi se hoga,” he said.
