We didn’t get the memo, but apparently some MLAs from Uttar Pradesh have been empowered to break the limbs of Indian citizens whose behaviour angers them.

Vikram Saini, the Bhartiya Janata Party MLA from Khatauli in Uttar Pradesh, told ANI (video above), “Any person who is unwilling to say ‘Vande Mataram’, or isn’t proud to voice nationalistic slogans, or doesn’t consider the cow to be a mother, or kills cows – I promise I will break their hands and legs.”

Of course.

His comments come a day after UP Chief Minister Adityanath directed senior officials in the state to take action against “vigilantes taking law into their own hands”, and are in keeping with his usual rhetoric. According to a report in the Times of India, Saini was arrested in the 2013 Muzaffarnagar riots case under the National Security Act and has cases of rioting and criminal intimidation against him.

What is most disturbing is that the comments are welcomed with loud cheers and hoots in the video. Clearly, Saini’s divisive politics has a great deal of support. No wonder he is unapologetic about it.