I do not think that there was ever an intention of Mr Burnham to hurt Dr. J in a physical way. He needed Dr. J to show up in Parliament unhurt. These attacks may have gone out of control but I don't believe they were planned to hurt Dr.J physically.
Think of this for a few minutes. If you were Mr. Burnham as President would you want Dr.J as opposition leader or (politically speaking) someone like Mrs J or Rai or better yet Bagwan.