Our Netas: A Day's Work

Four exhibits from four different states that made the headlines today

Exhibit # 1: Vitthal Radadia, Congress Lok Sabha MP from Porbandar, Vitthal Radadia

Brandished a gun at operators of a Vadodara toll booth, apparently enraged at the temerity of the toll plaza attendant, who asked for the original I-card after his driver had shown a photocopy. Mr Radadia menacingly held his double-barreled shotgun aloft while stalking the area in front of the booth and repeatedly tapping the glass enclosure with the barrel. MPs are exempted from paying toll tax on highways across the country. Read more

Exhibit #2: Babulal Gaur, former Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister and current state urban development minister

The BJP leader, while visiting a temple, threatened a priestess with arrest because she had the temerity to slam him for failing to fulfil the government's development plans. "Just shut up," he said, repeatedly asking the men around him to "take her away and lock her up".

Exhibit #3: Vinod Kumar Singh, Samajvadi Party, revenue minister in UP

Finally forced to resign after he allegedly abducted Gonda Chief Medical Officer S.P. Singh who had refused to accommodate his nominees on the list of doctors on contract recruited by the district health department under the National Rural Health Mission (NRHM).

Exhibit 4: Dharambir Goyat, Congress Hisar district spokesman

In fresh embarrassment for ruling Congress in Haryana, which is already on the backfoot over growing incidents of rape, Haryana Pradesh Congress Committee member and Congress Hisar district spokesman Dharambir Goyat told reporters in Hisar last night: "90 per cent of rape cases are (a case of) consensual sex between the girl and boy.... The girl gets into an affair with a boy and she goes with him without knowing that he is of criminal mindset."