On Wednesday, the social media head of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has hit out at Uddhav Thackeray-led Maha Vikas Aghadi government for it plan to drop cases related to Bhima-Koregaon violence.
Amit Malviya, in a response to a news report which claimed that Uddhav Thackeray has assured NCP of withdrawing cases against Dalit activists in connection with the violence, tweeted asking "Is this the Shiv Sena of the legendary Balasaheb Thackrey? Weak and compromised." He further said that "Balasaheb Thackeray would have ever negotiated on issues of national security?"
The news report which Amit Malviya was responding to stated that the Maharashtra CM Udhhav Thackeray on Tuesday met cabinet minister and assured them that the cases filed againt Dalit activists in connection to Bhima-Koregaon violence would be withdrawn.
But, the Bhima-Koregaon cases are different from the ones related to the Elgar Parishad rally. The Elgar Parishad rally took place on December 31st, while the Bhima-Koregaon violence happened between January 1 and Januray 3.
Maharashtra CM Uddhav Thackeray has referred to offences registered against those who protested against attack on Dalit activists by some anti-social elements at Bhima Koregaon in January, 2018. Only such cases will be withdrawn.
According to India Today, some of the activists arrested by the Pune police in connection with the Elgar Parishad-Koregaon Bhima case have been accused of having links with Naxal outfits, including the banned Communist Party of India (Maoist). The nine activists who were held in the Elgar Parishad case are Sudha Bharadwaj, Arun Ferreira and Vernon Gonsalves, Surendra Gadling, Sudhir Dhawale and P Varavara Rao.
Senior NCP leader and MLA Dhananjay Munde has urged CM Thackeray to withdraw cases related of Bhima Koregaon violence. Munde told the Indian Express, “A number of intellectuals, thinkers, social activists and innocent citizens have been branded as Naxals and have had cases filed against them in the Bhima Koregaon riots case. It is my request that cases against them should be withdrawn immediately.”
On the 200th anniversary of Bhima-Koregaon war on January 1, 2018, a large number of people had gathered near in Pune to mark the occasion. Violent clashes had erupted which later spread to across the state. Hundreds of people were injured and one person was killed in the violence.
