How serious is BJP about wielding the broom?

The arrest of former Union minister Swami Chinmayanand almost a month after allegations of sexual harassment of a PG law student surfaced against him, indicates how the law and order machinery works differently for people in powerful positions. The push to take action came from the Supreme Court after the female student at an institution run by Chinmayanand in Uttar Pradesh went missing a day after claiming threats to her life as she had proof to substantiate her claims of sexual harassment.

After the SC heard her out, gave her full protection and directed the UP police to set up an SIT to expedite the probe, the spunky girl shared as many as 45 tapes she had recorded on spy camera with the SIT. But sensing the SIT was dragging its feet, the girl threatened to commit self-immolation, which was when Chinmayanand was eventually arrested. The victim, however, claims the SIT softened the blow by invoking a milder Section 376C, which deals with sexual intercourse by a person in authority, rather than the tough Section 376 that deals with rape. And the cross-FIR filed by Chinmayanand claiming attempts to extort `5 crore by the victim is a Sword of Damocles hanging over her head. Whether Chinmayanand eventually faces the full majesty of law is anybody’s guess.

Chinmayanand is the second big BJP leader to have been arrested in UP for sexual assault, the first one being Kuldeep Singh Sengar, an MLA from Unnao. While Chinmayanand came to the BJP at the height of the Ayodhya agitation, Sengar was in the BSP and the SP before he switched to the BJP. He was expelled from the party after allegations that he tried to bump off the victim and her family by engineering the collision of a sand-laden truck with their car on a rainy day in Rae Bareli.

UP Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath and Chinmayanand are known to share good vibes. Will the party chuck the latter as well? Its intent to wield the broom will be closely watched as also the way it channelises the heavy influx of riff-raff in Bengal and elsewhere.