Uttarakhand: Governorships or video clips, scandals haunt the BJP in the hills

Dushyant Kumar Gautam, former BJP national general-secretary and erstwhile president of the party’s Scheduled Caste Morcha, was sworn in as the 19th Governor of Sikkim on 19 October — despite a plea to the President of India to recall his appointment. Gautam had been named as one of the VIPs who had allegedly sought sexual favours from Ankita Bhandari in September 2022, and been refused.

The 19-year-old receptionist disappeared from Vanantra resort on the night of 18 September. Her body was recovered from the Chilla barrage several days later. While prime accused Pulkit Arya (owner of Vanantra and son of BJP minister Vinod Arya) is currently serving a life sentence, Dushyant Gautam’s call details with Pulkit Arya have not been made public as demanded by activist groups in Uttarakhand.

For the past four years, the state has been on the boil, demanding justice for Ankita. Finding it too hot to handle, the government handed over the investigation to the CBI in January 2026. Not only are Ankita’s aged parents Soni Devi and Virendra Singh Bhandari upset at the investigation having gone into cold storage, they are deeply disturbed by Gautam’s appointment as governor (as this grants him immunity from prosecution).

“When we heard the news, we could not sleep the whole night,” Soni Devi said. “We travelled from our village Dobh Srikot to Srinagar, and took an overnight bus to Delhi. On 14 October, we had scarcely sat down at Jantar Mantar when the police arrived and threatened us. If we refused to leave, we would be fined Rs 1.5 lakh for breaking the law. We are poor people, in no position to pay such a hefty fine, so we moved to India Gate. Several activists and Congress leaders including Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi came to express their solidarity with us.”

What she did not say was that ever since Ankita’s death, both parents have been under the surveillance of intelligence agencies who are monitoring their every move. Embarrassed by their protest at India Gate — where they threatened to go on an indefinite fast if CBI findings were not made public — the Dhami government ordered the suspension of Sarvesh Panwar, superintendent of police (Pauri Garhwal) and Sardar Singh, sub-inspector (local intelligence) for failing to prevent them from reaching New Delhi.

The day after the Leader of Opposition met them, Ankita’s parents were whisked away by Delhi Police. The BJP then released a photograph of them meeting two senior CBI officers along with Pauri Garhwal MP Anil Baluni (perceived to be close to Union home minister Amit Shah).

The CBI was clearly ordered to set up the photo-op. With the crucial Assembly election barely five months away, it remains to be seen which VIPs are made the scapegoats.

Soni Devi is determined to continue her fight. “Main haar nahi manungi (I will not accept defeat). The worst the government can do is kill us. Better to die once than accept their lies.”

Virender Singh Bhandari is equally resolute. “We believe the CBI needs to conclude its enquiry at the earliest. The call records of both Dushyant Gautam and the other RSS leader Ajay Kumar [Uttarakhand organising secretary also named as a VIP in the case] should be made public. We had appealed to the President of India to do a proper background check before signing his appointment.”

The news of Gautam’s appointment set off a wave of anger in Sikkim. The Sikkim Bar Council dashed off a letter to chief minister Prem Singh Tamang and Prime Minister Modi stating that ‘the appointment should be kept in abeyance until the controversy around the Ankita Bhandari case is fully resolved and the name of the Governor-designate is conclusively cleared by the competent investigating authorities’.

Speaking from Sikkim, social activist and Citizen Action Party leader Bharat Basnet said the state is embarrassed at the appointment of a man with such an unsavoury reputation.

Student organisations, along with citizens, have been staging daily protests at the district administrative centre. They have vowed to continue the agitation until Gautam’s governorship is revoked.

Dr Mukesh Semwal is a member of the Socialist Unity Centre of India (Communist) whose cadre has been doing stellar work providing health care and other services in the hills. Semwal believes the only reason for Gautam’s appointment is the immunity from all criminal proceedings enjoyed by governors under Article 361 of our Constitution.

“The Central and Uttarakhand governments are facing flak from several quarters. Yet they have gone ahead with this appointment. What information is Gautam privy to? No doubt he has been an RSS loyalist all his life, but why did they not let the law takes its own course?” Semwal asked.

Another theory is doing the rounds. Appointing Gautam, a long-time RSS and BJP organiser from a powerful sub-caste of Dalits, might help the party consolidate its base in Uttar Pradesh. As a BJP leader quipped, don’t be surprised if Sikkim’s governor spends more time in UP!

Civil society groups, Left parties and the Congress in Uttarakhand have been leading the ‘Justice for Ankita’ campaign. Congress leader Suryakant Dhasmana said, “The BJP and RSS have rubbed salt into the wounds of the people of this state by granting Gautam immunity from prosecution. It reveals their true colours.”

In a video interview with Congress vice-president Sujata Paul, actress Urmila Sanawar claimed that information in the possession of the Uttarakhand Special Investigation Team has not been passed on to the CBI. “I realised this when the CBI interviewed me,” Sanawar said.

Readers might recall that in the last week of December 2025, Sanawar released an audio clip in which her husband, former BJP MLA Suresh Rathore, claimed that the VIP guest at Vanantra was none other than ‘Gattu’ (Gautam’s nickname among friends and close party leaders).

The BJP argues that Pulkit Arya and his two associates are in prison. What more does the family want? Full disclosure, for one. Ankita’s family maintains that Gautam’s political influence has kept his name out of the investigation. Gautam has denied all allegations and filed defamation suits against those who claim he had a hand in Ankita’s murder.

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October has been an interesting month for the BJP government. On 15 October, Rekha Arya, the minister for women empowerment and child development, filed a complaint against her husband Girdhari Lal Sahu. She accused him of assault, conspiring to kill her, casteist abuse and fraud. Sahu in turn alleged that his wife had amassed illegal assets worth Rs 210 crore during her tenure as minister.

“I brought her this far,” Sahu said in a video that went viral. “She was just a woman standing by the roadside. All I ask is that she withdraw the baseless complaint she has filed against me.”

The Congress has demanded an immediate enquiry into the illegal acquisition of assets by Rekha Arya. Sahu has gone underground. This is the same man who was captured on video telling the young men of Almora that they needn’t worry about not getting local wives — he would help them ‘buy’ a bride from Bihar for as little as Rs 20,000–25,000.