A video clip of an upper caste functionary of the Bharatiya Janata Party indulging in indecorous behaviour — he was seen easing himself on a tribal man in Madhya Pradesh — that went viral after it was shared in early July, expectedly caused an uproar and led to protests in the State.
The government had to take action and it responded by invoking the National Security Act on the accused and bulldozing his home in an attempt to appear tough. But what caught the media attention, perhaps even more than the incident itself, was the ‘spectacle’, orchestrated shortly after the alleged incident, by Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan. In the full glare of the media, Mr. Chouhan performed the ritual of washing the feet of the victim.
