Mumbai: Once again displaying an inhumane approach to the family of Dharma Patil, the octogenarian farmer who committed suicide in January 2018, the state government detained his wife Sakhubai and his son Narendra ahead of Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis’s visit to a nearby village in the course of his Maha Janadesh Yatra on Thursday.
In December 2018, when Fadnavis visited the same village, Patil’s son Narendra was detained by police. Fadnavis’s yatra through North Maharashtra is in its second phase.
He was in Dhule district and was passing by Dharma Patil’s village, Vikharan. Patil, 84, had killed himself with poison in front of Mantralaya, Mumbai, to protest the insufficient compensation he received for his land, which was acquired by state government.
Police feared Sakhubai would stage a protest against Fadnavis and they detained her. For the same reason, they had also detained Narendra, the son of Dharma Patil, in December 2018.
At that time, Sakhubai had stayed by his side at the Dondaicha police station. Local police, however, have denied detaining the Patils and claimed that Sakhubai was hospitalised due to ill health.
Opposition says govt is cruel
The Nationalist Congress Party termed this as cruel. “This government is cruel and insensitive. This is arrogance of power,” declared Nationalist Congress Party leader and the former deputy chief minister, Ajit Pawar.
