On June 29th, he confessed to a crime against Sanjay Kumar, father of Nishu Azad, a teenage Dalit protester at the CJP-led movement against paper leak at Jantar Mantar. Swatantra not only boasted about the crime he committed, he also very proudly flaunted his association with BJP leader Kapil Mishra and the Prime Minister himself. He claimed that the BJP leader and current minister at Government of Delhi, Kapil Mishra, made a phone call to the concerned police officers to stop registration of FIR against Swatantra Bhardwaj.
It is indeed noteworthy, that the crime Swatantra boasted about was an attempt to murder and a caste atrocity.
It was after a huge uproar that Swatantra was taken into police custody, briefly held and released on bail on September 15th. It is only after a manifestation of public pressure associated with the CJP leaders mass delegation to Delhi Police that an FIR was filed. Before that, Swatantra was roaming free without a police case against him, even after assaulting Sanjay Kumar for participating in a democratic protest.
Communal Casteist Goons Roam Loose Under Modi Regime
Swatantra Bhardwaj is only one of the many in the vast goon machinery that has been let loose under the BJP regime. These goons, who explicitly express loyalty to the ruling regime, are part of their organizational network, who unleash attacks on religious minorities, Dalits, women and political opposition to the ruling party.
Consider another statement by the likes of Swatantra, who has been a BJP MP for years. “Mere hath se ek hatya hui hai” (I have committed a murder), said Brijbhushan Saran Singh, former BJP MP from UP and more popularly known as the accused in sexual harassment charges by the country’s top women athletes. Needless to say, no case of murder was ever filed against Brijbhushan. He was the chairperson of the Wrestling Federation of India when several women wrestlers brought out charges of sexual harassment against him. Olympic and Commonwealth games medal winning women wrestlers like Sakshi Malik, Vinesh Phogat, Sangeeta Phogat and others, had to come down to the streets and organize a dharna in Delhi facing immense police brutality just to ensure that an FIR was filed against Brijbhushan. Amidst clear police complicity and systematic attempt to shield the BJP leader, Brijbhushan was acquitted by a Delhi Court in August 2026.
Kapil Mishra, the BJP leader Swatantra Bhardwaj referred to in his (in)famous podcast, for having stopped legal proceedings against Swatantra, is another prominent person of interest in this regard. Kapil Mishra is presently a cabinet minister in the Govt. of Delhi. The violent Delhi Pogrom that unleashed in the localities and streets of east Delhi in February, 2020 killed more than 50 people, displaced hundreds and caused severe damage to houses, possessions of people as well as religious places. Kapil Mishra played a crucial role in triggering the violence. He gave an ultimatum at Maujpur, in the presence of DCP of North East Delhi, that if the peaceful dharnas against CAA was not cleared within a day, he and his followers will hit the street and listen to no one. Hours within such a threat, targeted attacks against Muslims began near Maujpur area, resulting in large scale killings and arson. Till now, no FIR has been registered against Kapil Mishra, who went on to communalise and polarize different parts of Delhi-NCR. And as the BJP government came to power in Delhi, this well-known riot instigator was rewarded with the post of Labour Minister.
Similarly, a vigilante by name Puneeth Kerehalli in Karnataka, heads a Hindutva outfit called Rashtra Rakshana Pade, was the main accused in the killing of a cattle trader Idrees Pasha in 2023. Recently, he was seen barging into migrant settlements and demanding documents from the residents and questioning them to be “illegal Bangladeshis”. On August 26th, he and his henchmen obstructed an Eid Milad procession in Bangalore, with saffron flags and raised “Jai Shri Ram” slogans. All his crimes are done in the presence of the police, and even when arrested, soon gets out on bail thus enjoying impunity.
In the late hours of August 19th this year, a mob armed with batons, sticks and rods entered Jadavpur University and attacked students, vandalized and set the campus on fire. West Bengal ABVP leaders were identified through CCTV footages of the incident. BJP MLA Sarbori Mukherjee was seen with a group of people at the gate of the university giving threats like ‘aj sara rat tandav cholbe’ (There will be carnage the entire night). At the same time, ABVP goons were launching their carnage inside the university. The BJP chose to begin its innings in West Bengal by unleashing carnage in the most credible academic institution of the state.
The reality remains that there are many such Swatantras who are let loose across the country by the RSS-BJP machinery, who know they are well protected by today’s government.
This regime bolsters communal, casteist and misogynist attacks by religious fanatics, who feel emboldened to let themselves loose on voices that condemn caste oppression, communalism and class oppression. Gauri Lankesh, the well-known journalist from Karnataka, and an activist against caste and communal oppression, was assassinated in front of her residence in Bangalore. The 18 persons accused for her murder are associated with Sanatan Sanstha, a Hindu fundamentalist organization. It is noteworthy that all 18 accused of Gauri Lankesh’s assassination are out on bail right now. The murder of Gauri Lankesh was preceded by murders of rationalists like Govind Pansare, Narendra Dabolkar and MM Kalburgi. Who else, but those who are driven by communal fanatic ideologies, often justified under the garb of Sanatana, are the greatest enemies of rationalists and anti-caste activists. Who else, but the ideological gurus of today’s regime like Hedgewar, Golwarkar and Savarkar have praised Manusmriti, adored Hitler and theorized Indian statehood from the prism of religious hatred? Who else carry the legacy of Nathuram Godse?
We cannot forget Komal Sharma and her associates, who launched brutal attacks on JNU students in January 2020, including the then JNUSU president Aishe Ghosh, whose skull was cracked open, are still roaming free.
It is not surprising that Sambhaji Bhide aka Bhide Guruji, founder of right-wing group Shri Shiv Pratishthan Hindustan, and the main accused in the 2018 anti-Dalit violence in Bhima Koregaon, has been let released of all charges.
An era of mob-lynching ushered in after BJP took power in 2014; series of attacks organized through WhatsApp and rumour mongering, was unleashed on Muslims in different parts of the country, especially in BJP ruled states. Mohd. Akhlaq, Pehlu Khan, Rakbar Khan, Tabrez Ansari, Junaid and Zafar Khan are just few names in the long list of victims of anti-Muslim hate crimes. In several instances, the accused in mob lynchings were publicly felicitated by BJP leaders.
Systematic Incarceration of People’s Activists and Voices
While well-known hate mongers are protected and rewarded, activists and voices that speak out for people’s constitutional rights are being systematically silenced. Umar Khalid, a well-known face of the democratic movement is in jail for past six years, and has been repeatedly denied bail. Most notably, his trial has not even begun in last six years. He can be conveniently jailed without any trial because he is an easy target under the hate-filled police system that structurally operates to deny justice.
It was the Delhi Police, under Amit Shah, that allowed the Delhi communal pogrom to take place.
Hundreds of workers are jailed in Noida since mid-April 2026 because they demanded an increase in wages and end to slavery-like situation imposed on them by the corporate nexus. The workers of the country become enemies of the government if they demand their rights. Farmers became Khalistanis when they protested against the three farm laws.
A governance of the goons, for the goons and by the goons is being operated under Modi Raj. Justice demands that the BJP regime is uprooted not only from the government, but from every single institution that they have captured today.
