Odisha MLA Not Alone: Of Elected Representatives And Their Unholy Acts

Bhubaneswar: When the BJD’s Patnagarh MLA Saroj Meher made PWD engineer Jayakant Sabar do sit-ups on June 4, he was only setting another example of high-handedness by lawmakers caught on the wrong side of the law. Such examples abound in our country, be it about creating ruckus at toll plazas, threatening collectors or engaging in a verbal duel with the police.

Here are some other shameful acts committed by our MLAs/MPs:

1. Akash Vijayvargiya: BJP’s Indore MLA made headlines last week after he was seen thrashing an Indore civic body official with a cricket bat. He showed no regret for his action. He was arrested by the police but was subsequently granted bail. The party has now issued a show cause notice to him.

2. Kailash Vijayvargiya: Akash’s father and a senior BJP leader who is also the party’s Bengal in charge had courted a similar controversy way back in 1994. According to reports, he, too, had humiliated a senior government official, Pramod Fadnikar, storming at him with a shoe. The matter surfaced following the Akash row, triggering scornful remarks from critics: “Like father like son”.

3. Ravindra Gaikwad: The IGI Airport at New Delhi was witness to tense moments on the morning of March 23, 2017 after the Shiv Sena MP created a ruckus inside an Air India flight as it landed at the airport. He repeatedly hit an Air India employee with footwear for not being allocated a business class on the flight from Pune. The matter had threatened to derail the ongoing session of Parliament then. The entire airline industry rallied behind Air India and barred him from travelling for a while. Shiv Sena did not give him a ticket for the Lok Sabha polls held this year.

4. Nitesh Rane: Earlier this week, Nitesh, a Congress MLA from Maharashtra and also son of former Chief Minister Narayan Rane, did an encore of the Patnagarh MLA’s act. If Meher made the PWD engineer do sit-ups for the alleged poor quality of road construction, Nitesh went a step further and threw mud at an engineer while inspecting a highway project. He even threatened him and pulled him by his collar.

5. Surendra Singh: Enraged over the district inspector of school’s alleged remarks against the role of politicians in governance, BJP MLA from Balia, Surendra Singh, had in September last year arrived at the former’s office with his followers and attacked him. However, he later apologised for the incident, having realised that his acts were caught on camera.

6. Rajdhani Yadav: The BJP leader from Jharkhand lost his cool on a January morning last year and slapped a district transport officer for allegedly removing the nameplate from his car. He was later arrested for his act.

7. Nandkumar Chauhan: In October last year, the BJP MP representing Khandwa constituency, roughed up two toll plaza employees in Shivpuri along with his aides, leaving them badly injured. The employees had made the mistake of asking him for his ID proof. No action was taken by the party against him.