A viral video of alleged BJP leader Shrikant Tyagi abusing and assaulting a Noida woman has yet again led to outrage against VIP culture. But in India, politicians and bureaucrats often get away with misbehavior, harassment and even assault.
A viral video of a BJP leader misbehaving with a woman inside a Noida housing complex has led to embarrassment for the party which has sought to distance itself from the accused. The police on Monday announced a reward of Rs 25,000 on the arrest of politician Shrikant Tyagi.
Tyagi, who is accused of assaulting and abusing a woman inside a housing society over an altercation over planting trees, was Friday booked under Indian Penal Code section 354 (assault or use of criminal force on any woman) over a spat with a co-resident of the housing society.
The woman had objected to Tyagi planting some trees in the society's common area, citing violation of rules. He claimed he was within his rights to do so. With a video of the incident going viral and causing an uproar, Tyagi has been absconding since Friday night and has also been booked in a case under Motor Vehicles Act for allegedly misusing the Uttar Pradesh government symbol on his car.
Even as Opposition leaders take potshots at the BJP for the incident, most political parties in India are guilty of indulging politicians who have come in the news for rowdy (mis)behaviour. Not just politicians, bureaucrats and civil servants also have previously come under the radar for the throwing VIP tantrums and on several occasions engaging in verbal and/or physical spats and abuses of power.
One of the most recent incidents of bureaucrats misbehaving with the common public came in April 2021 when the District Magistrate of Tripura Sailesh Kumar Yadav was caught misbehaving with a marriage party for violating Covid-19 protocols which at the time did not permit gathering beyond 10 pm in Tripura. In videos that went viral, the DM can be seen barging into the wedding venue and ordering the wedding to be shut down since it had exceeded the curfew timings and is also seen misbehaving with the bride and groom's parties. He ordered mass arrests of family members from both sides and was also seen tearing the permission slip he had himself signed for the wedding to pieces while sayingthings like "Don;t talk like a bloody villager". Yadav, who was suspended over the incident, later apologised and claimed he had not meant to "hurt anyone's sentiments" after outrage over his high-handed behaviour in a matter that could have been solved amicably.
In 2019, a BJP MLA from Gujarat was caught on tape kicking and assaulting a NCP leader Neetu Tejwani who had been protesting outside the MLA's house with other women over water crisis in their neighbourhoods. Naroda MLA Balram Thavani's viral video caused outrage across Gujarat. Thavani later apologised for the incident and made Tejwani tie him a Rakhi as a symbol of good faith.
In April 2022, Samajwadi Party MLA Ashutosh Maurya was booked for allegedly assaulting a power department employee and tearing office register in Budaun district of Uttar Pradesh. The Bisauli MLA denied the charges and said he had gone to the electricity sub-station in the night after residents complained of an undeclared outage.
In June this year, Karnataka BJP MLA Aravind Limbavali's daughter was caught on tape misbehaving and abusing police officials and media persons in Bengaluru. As per reports, the MLA's daughter lost her cool after she was stopped by police for rash driving and overtaking of police vehicle and other traffic violations. In one of the viral videos, she was heard saying, "Do you know who my father is?"
Congress leader DK Shivakumar landed himself in the eye of a storm in July 2021 after the Karnataka unit chief was caught on tape slapping a party worker when the latter touched him on the shoulder. In the video that went viral, DKS can reportedly be heard saying, "What is this behaviour at this place? I have given you freedom, but that doesn’t mean you can do this".
Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan infamously slapped his bodyguard during a campaign rally in Sardarpur in 2018. The BJP leader offered no explanations for his behaviour and continues the rally. Later reports claimed that the bodyguard had been nudging him repeatedly, thus provoking the reaction.
Former union minister and BJP leader from West Bengal Babul Supriyo landed in controversy when a video of him allegedly hitting a man inside a party office in Kolkata went viral in March. Supriyo allegedly got agitated after the man repeatedly kept asking him to participate in serious on-ground campaigning ahead of the elections. Supriyo, who was recently inducted into TMC, leader later denied slapping the man and said he had only been gesturing in the video.
Jagan Mohan Reddy's YSR Congress' leader D Revathy was caught on camera slapping a toll-plaza worker in December last year. The latter had allegedly stopped her after the leader refused to pay the toll.