Madhya Pradesh BJP MLA Akash Vijayvargiya was arrested on Wednesday for attacking a civic body official with a cricket bat, after an altercation over a demolition drive.

A video of the assault went viral on social media.

Police filed an FIR against Akash Vijayvargiya and 10 others in connection with the assault, an official said.

Akash went about beating up the officer even as mediapersons surrounded him with cameras and recorded the entire incident.

News agency ANI tweeted the video.

Justifying his action, Akash said: 'In the BJP, we have been taught, pehle aavedan, phir nivedan aur phir danadan. (first request and then attack).'

Eye-witnesses said the locals were protesting the razing of a house when Akash, who was a part of the protest, warned the civic body staff of consequences if they did not leave the spot.

Akash's supporters removed the keys of the earth moving machine brought in to carry out a demolition.

Amid the altercation, Akash brought out a cricket bat and started hitting an officer who was talking on his mobile phone. The lawmaker's supporters also attacked the officer and abused him while police personnel tried to contain the situation.

Soon after the incident, Indore Municipal Corporation employees struck work.

Akash said some civic officials were razing houses which were in a good condition.

'This is a conspiracy between owners of the houses and officials. They want to raze the houses so that leaders of the ruling Congress can take possession of the land,' he said.

Condemning the incident, state Congress spokesperson Neelabh Shukla said: “The lawmaker himself has broken the law. The incident has exposed the real face of the BJP. In a way, the incident has exposed the fissures within the BJP, as the IMC (Indore Municipal Corporation) is represented by a BJP mayor,” he said.

Some condemned the assault, some asked Madhya Pradesh Congress to take action against the incident, and some made snarky and funny comments.

Here are Twitterati's reactions to the footage released by ANI:

At a time when the world is obsessed with cricket and the ICC Cricket World Cup, here are some of the tweets addressing the lawmaker's batsmanship.