Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) activists, including the youth wing, staged protests in the district headquarters of Chhatrapati Sambjinagar, Latur, and Nanded in Marathwada, condemning Congress leader Rahul Gandhi's remarks about Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
In Chhatrapati Sambhjinagar, tension prevailed at Kranti Chowk for some time when activists from BJP and Maha Vikas Aghadi confronted each other.
The BJP Yuva Morcha organised a meeting at Kranti Chowk on Friday to condemn Congress leader Rahul Gandhi's statements about Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Similarly, allied parties of the Mahavikas Aghadi staged demonstrations at Kranti Chowk to condemn actions against leaders by the ED and CBI, the murder of Shiv Sena Thackeray faction corporator Abhishek Ghosalkar, and issues with the state home minister.
Slogans echoed from both sides, with Yuva Morcha activists, led by Dnyaneshwar Borse, Rajgaurav Wankhede, Rameshwar Bhadve, Manish Munde, and others, garlanding the statue of Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj. However, activists started shouting slogans against Rahul Gandhi.
Simultaneously, MVA activists from Congress, NCP, Shiv Sena Thackeray faction, and others gathered on another side of Kranti Chowk under the leadership of Vishwas Autare, Varun Pathrikar, Prashant Jagtap, Hanuman Shinde, Dharmaraj Danve, and others. The activists intended to walk around the statue, leading to a confrontational situation between the two groups. However, police intervention quickly gained control over the situation.
Protest in Latur and Nanded
Meanwhile, in Latur, protests targeted Rahul Gandhi's remarks, with protesters venting anger at an effigy of the Congress leader at Mahatma Gandhi Chowk. Additionally, the Nanded city unit of the BJP and OBC Morcha Mahanagar staged a protest in Mutha Chowk, hitting photos of Rahul Gandhi with chappals.
Gandhi, who is on the Manipur to Mumbai Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra, sparked controversy on Thursday with his remarks that Modi was born into a family that belonged to the general caste and not into an Other Backward Class (OBC) community.
"Modi ji has been misleading the people by saying that he is an OBC. He was born in a family of the 'Ghanchi' caste, which was included in the OBC list during the BJP government's tenure in Gujarat in 2000. He changed his caste to OBC after becoming the CM of Gujarat. Therefore, Modi ji is not an OBC by birth," the Congress MP asserted in Odisha.
Gandhi's comments triggered angry reactions from the BJP.
