New Delhi: The Congress on Friday expressed concern that under the BJP government in Maharashtra, the secular voices and critics of intolerance are continuously being threatened and face grave danger. “Will the @Dev_Fadnavis govt step up & protect free speech or allow anti-democratic forces to take hold of the state,” the Congress asked on its Twitter handle. It also carried a detailed report in the National Herald on “Mantri Mandal being used as a code for the hit list, saying threats are being received by several critics of bigotry and obscurantism in quick succession after the general elections.
The Congress said writer Dr Ram Puniyani, editor Nikhil Wagle and another Marathi woman editor Rahi Bhide have received the threats and the Devendra Fadnavis government tried to douse the issue by providing them security and ordering investigation. Rahi Bhide, the editor of Marathi daily Punyanagri, is the latest to get the threat from an unidentified man loitering around her office cabin, allegedly holding a knife or gun wrapped in a newspaper. He wanted her to accompany him to meet Purandare who had sent for her. Was he referring to noted balladeer Babasaheb Purandare, 97, a resident of Pune?
