Extra time for assault

On Saturday, the Chhattisgarh unit of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) found itself braving protests from journalists after one of them, Suman Pandey, was allegedly beaten up by some party functionaries. While the episode was followed by an FIR by Pandey and the arrest of three party workers, journalists expressed their anguish at the response of the BJP’s local leadership by holding a sit-in outside the party’s state headquarters that evening. As two senior party leaders, including leader of Opposition in the Assembly, Dharamlal Kaushik, came out to break the impasse in the early hours of Sunday, an angry Pandey threw a jibe at them: “You should clarify if journalists are invited to be bashed up by your colleagues. In future we will keep extra time in hand – 20 minutes for getting assaulted and the remainder for coverage.” He and others reminded Kaushik how those behind the assault were garlanded by their party colleagues immediately after they were granted bail in the assault case.