Mumbai: Ink was thrown at Maharashtra Minister Mr Chandrakant Patil in Pimpri suburb of Pune on Saturday for his alleged remarks about Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar, aMahatma Jyotiba Phule and Karmaveer Bhairav Patil, the police said. The police have detained the man who threw ink on Patil and further investigation is underway, Pimpri Chinchwad police commissioner Ankush Shinde said. The person is identified as Manoj Bhaskar Garbade who is the worker of the Samata Sainik Dal.
The incident took place a day after Mr Patil allegedly said at the function on Friday that Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar, Mahatma Jyotiba Phule and Karmaveer Bhairav Patil begged to establish schools.
In his first reaction, Mr Patil claimed it was a cowardly attack and dared ‘’come forward if have a courage.’’
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Fadnavis condemns attack on Patil
‘’I am a man of movement. I am not afraid of anyone. It is not right to bully others in this way. The statement I made has been distorted. I have also explained it three times. Yet this is how cowardly ink has been thrown at me. I am ready to take off my police protection and go to the event, come forward if you have courage", he said.
‘’Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar followed the principle that everyone has the right to express his opinion throughout his life. However, now there is mob rule in Maharashtra. Maharashtra government will not tolerate this mob rule. Now I appeal to Ajit Pawar and Uddhav Thackeray to protest today’s incident,’’ said Mr Patil.
‘’What will happen if we release our workers? But this is not our culture. I had clarified immediately after my statement. Basically, the son of a mill worker’s rise to this position is not digested by the feudal minded people. That is why such cowardly attacks are going on", he commented.
‘’In the program in Paithan, I also worshiped Babasaheb Ambedkar and Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj. Karmveer Bhaurao Patil, Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar and Mahatma Jyotiba Phule started schools. However, I said that they did not rely on government grants for starting the school, I should have used the word 'through public participation'. However, we are rural people. So we speak in a rural language. This is what these feudalistic people cannot tolerate", he added.
He also appealed to the Chief Minister and the Deputy Chief Minister that no action should be taken against any police officer while investigating this incident. Along with this, workers should also maintain peace, he said.
Deputy Chief Minister Mr Devendra Fadnavis condemned ink thrown on Mr Patil saying that it is very inappropriate to target in such a wrong way. ‘’Chandrakant Patil's statement was that today people go after grants, but in those days Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar, Karmaveer Bhaurao Patil or Mahatma Jyotiba Phule instead of going for government grants, raised money from the public and established schools. So I think this content should be taken into account,’’he noted.
BJP leader and state forest and cultural affairs minister Mr Sudhir Mungantiwar said, “I think this is an unfortunate incident. Chandrakant Patil has apologised after taking a clear stand on what he meant. It is likely that this type of incidents will increase in politics in the future,’’ he added.
