BJP legislator Akash Vijayvargiya, son of party veteran Kailash Vijayvargiya, was arrested on Wednesday for assaulting a civic official with a cricket bat, with the young leader later proclaiming that “our line of action” was “avedan (application), nivedan (request) and then dana-dan (thrashing)”.

Akash, a first-time MLA whose father is the Bengal BJP minder and a national general secretary of the party, was caught on camera attacking the Indore civic official, who was part of a demolition drive, with a cricket bat and hitting him twice on the leg.

A video clip, which has been widely circulated, shows Akash charging at the official, who was on the phone, with the bat and hitting him. When the official made a hand gesture expressing exasperation, Akash hit him again.

Police and others restrained Akash, the MLA of Indore-3, and his supporters and rescued the official. While the official was being taken to safety, some of Akash’s supporters pulled him by his shirt collar.

When a TV channel sought Kailash’s comment on the episode and asked if he would chastise his son, the senior leader said: “Are you a judge? Will you sit in judgment?…. Who are you? You will pass judgments on an MLA?”

Akash said he had told officials of the BJP-run Indore Municipal Corporation, which was conducting a drive to raze houses deemed dilapidated, that they should leave within 10 minutes, otherwise whatever happened would be their responsibility.

After the video went viral, the police lodged an FIR against Akash and 10 others. A local court denied him bail and he was sent to jail in the evening for two weeks.

Justifying his action before his arrest, Akash claimed that civic officials had assaulted women. “This is just the beginning. We will finish corruption and hooliganism. Avedan, nivedan, then dana-dan, this is our line of action,” he said.

Eyewitnesses said Akash’s supporters removed the keys of the earth-moving machine that had been brought for the job.

Soon after the assault, employees of the Indore Municipal Corporation held a demonstration and stopped work.

Akash claimed that the civic officials were razing even those houses that were in a good condition. “This is a conspiracy between the 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,” the young MLA alleged.

The Congress, which came to power in Madhya Pradesh last year by defeating the BJP, condemned Akash’s actions. State Congress spokesperson Neelabh Shukla said: “The lawmaker himself has broken the law. The incident has exposed the real face of the BJP.”