The Madhya Pradesh police have registered a case against BJP national general secretary Kailash Vijayvargiya, an MP, and around 350 party workers after he was purportedly seen in a video threatening to set the “entire Indore on fire” while staging a sit-in on Friday.
As the workers protested outside the Indore Divisional Commissioner's house against the anti-mafia drive of the government, Mr. Vijayvargiya told an official, “We will not tolerate this. There are Sangh (RSS) leaders present here. Otherwise, we would have set the entire Indore on fire.”
Several leaders of the right-wing group, including its chief Mohan Bhagwat, were in the city for an internal meeting.
The police registered a case, including against Indore MP Shankar Lalwani, on Saturday night based on complaints of government officials, said Jyoti Umath, City Superintendent of Police, Sanyogitaganj. “Initially a case for disobedience to order promulgated by public servant was registered. Hours later, four more counts were added. No arrests have been made so far,” she said.
The case was registered under Sections 188 [Disobedience to order duly promulgated by public servant], 143 [unlawful assembly], 149 [Every member of unlawful assembly guilty of offence committed in prosecution of common object], 153 [Wantonly giving provocation with intent to cause riot] and 506 [Punishment for criminal intimidation] of the Indian Penal Code.
The BJP was protesting against the State government's anti-encroachment drive, which, it alleges, was targeting only structures owned by its workers. On Friday, the party leaders had invited senior civic officials to raise the issue with them, but when only junior officials turned up, it riled Mr. Vijayvargiya.
