MP minister who gave bats to brides also held GK contest on himself

The GK test was organised on the occasion of the 150th birth anniversary celebrations of Swami Vivekananda.

Gopal Bhargava gifted 700 brides with wooden bats at a mass wedding to beat alcoholic husbands with. Express photo

MADHYA Pradesh Panchayat, Rural Development and Social Justice Minister Gopal Bhargava who gifted 700 brides with mogris or wooden bats at a mass wedding in Garhakota town in Sagar district two days ago, to beat alcoholic husbands with, claimed on Monday that the step had dramatically brought down the consumption of liquor in the area. In the 48 hours since his gift, he said, the sale of liquor pouches had fallen from 100-odd pouches to just about 10 in every village. “Liquor vendors are scared because they know they may be in trouble,” he said.

The seven-time MLA from Rehli claims to know his constituents well. Three years ago, Bhargava had organised a general knowledge contest for voters in his constituency because “I wanted to know how much do they know about their MLA, surroundings, constituency and other things”. Thousands of 116-page books with nearly a thousand questions were given to candidates, who paid Rs 20 for a form. Most questions had the same answer: Gopal Bhargava, or his constituency Rehli.

Nearly 40,000 candidates, aged 13 to 70, appeared for the test with 500 prizes on offer, the first prize an Alto car. Besides some staple GK questions, the questions to which candidates were supposed to reply Bhargava or Rehli were ‘Who is Vikas Purush?’, ‘Which is the most developed constituency in the country?’, ‘Who still lives in his ancestral house despite being an MLA and minister for such a long time?’, ‘Which other leader or minister has served people by staying awake most nights?’.

The GK test was organised on the occasion of the 150th birth anniversary celebrations of Swami Vivekananda. It was held at 75 centres across Relhi and was supervised by nearly 1,200 employees of the Education Department.

The minister announced he wouldn’t take any prize even if he won, and promised that he had not set the paper and did not know the questions. The 64-year-old minister finally scored 98 out of 100 marks, topping the test. The two questions he did not get were: the exact number of bhajan mandlis he had funded and another relating to calculation of compound interest.

In 2008, Bhargava had got 51 grooms to a mass wedding venue in cars fitted with red beacons, for a unique experience. In April 2015, the Brahmin leader had got both his children married at another mass wedding, with hundreds of other couples, apparently to answer criticism that only lower castes or downtrodden got married on such occasions.

However, over the years, he has courted trouble over remarks made on reservation, apart from a threat to hit Congress leaders with chappals. His provocative remarks once on the floor of the Assembly reduced then chief minister Sundarlal Patwa to tears.

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Bhargava said he thought of the mogri gift alarmed over rampant alcohol abuse among youths, destroying families. The trigger, he added, was the recent funeral he attended of two young men who died in road accidents that happened while both were drunk.

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