Asaram mocks law: Why is BJP silent and Congress inactive?

Bangalore, Aug 28: Senior Congress leader Digvijaya Singh on Wednesday tweeted that the BJP was exhibiting a double standard on crime against women. He said while the opposition sought death penalty for others, it was backing a fake Godman.

BJP leader runs away from TV show

Singh is not entirely wrong. The BJP, which has been seen raising a storm in the Parliament over rapes happening across the country, is strangely silent on the Asaram (we refuse to attach 'Bapu' to his name, remembering its legacy) case. On Wednesday, a BJP minister from Madhya Pradesh, Kailash Vijayvargiya, pulled out of a TV channel debate after being put in a corner over 'backing' the self-styled godman who allegedly raped a 15-year-old girl.

The leader had allegedly accused the victim as a co-conspirator in the case. Not a single top BJP leader have spoken on the issue, particularly when they are so upset with endless stories of crime against women across the nation.

But that doesn't put the Congress in a great position either. Why couldn't the Congress government in Rajasthan arrest Asaram and allowed the latter mock the law? Instead of raising a finger at Gujarat or Madhya Pradesh, which are ruled by the BJP, why did it allow the sensitive case to drag on?

The Asaram case has exposed the shocking condition of the country's politics and its practitioners. Neither of the two main political parties have the courage to catch hold of the spiritual leader even as the people who they represent feel anguished by the humiliation that was meted out to a minor girl.

Majority votes matter, girl's modesty doesn't

Both parties, apprehensive about the results of the upcoming assembly and Lok Sabha polls (predictions aren't very bright for either of them in the bigger battle) , are not ready to touch Asaram and end up annoying the majority vote-bank. This is what our secularism preaches at the end of the day. Asaram has been moving from state to state but neither the Rajasthan or the Madhya Pradesh governments are ready to call a spade a spade since both these states will go to the assembly polls in a few months.

But what Vijayvargiya did on the TV on Tuesday might prove costly for the BJP in the next poll tests. For it is his party's government in the state led by Shivraj Singh Chouhan, which speaks about women's safety in high terms and the former made a mockery of his own government's image by issuing mindless statements and then running away from a public platform.

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