Is Sharad Pawar fishing in choppy caste waters?

Mumbai: The BJP brass held a closed-door meeting to assess the Bhima-Koregaon riots and the successful bandh called by various Dalit groups on Wednesday. They strongly believe that strong forces are working behind the scenes to dethrone Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis. The aspersions are being cast on the usual suspect — Sharad Pawar and his peculiar kind of Maratha politics.

Dalit leaders as well as Fadnavis have clarified that Maratha organisations were not behind the riots but a BJP insider claimed that some left extremists funded and supported by NCP leaders tried to create a precarious situation to destabilise a ‘Brahmin’-led state.

Madhav Bhandari, BJP spokesperson, analysed the situation thus, “A major role was played by Prakash Ambedkar, the grandson of Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar. The CM was aware of his hold over Dalit groups and keen not to be perceived as anti-Dalit, he allowed the restive groups to express their anger. At the same time, he ensured that law and order was maintained with no untoward incident.”

The Dalit Panther groups, however, have seen through the strategy of the BJP and accused Fadnavis of trying to drive a wedge between the Dalits and the Marathas.

“It seems the BJP is enjoying the political fallout of creating differences between the Marathas and the Dalits. The Marathas had demanded amendment of the Atrocities Act which was strongly opposed by the Dalits. This issue had fuelled the innate insecurity among the Dalits and this went against Marathas for the first time,” said Sumedh Jadhav, leader of Republican Panther, a follower group of Ambedkar ideology but with leanings towards left extremism.

He said, “The prime suspect were Maratha organisations in the Koregaon riots case. However, Prakash Ambedkar and Ramdas Athawale, union minister and Dalit leader, clarified that it was a conspiracy to widen the gap between the Dalits and the Marathas which was already under strain after the Kopardi rape and murder incident.”

He added that Dalits may go against the BJP in the next Assembly polls, even if the police lodges a complaint against Milind Ekbote and Sambhaji Bhide, the leaders of right wing Hindu outfits.

Bhandari rejected the possibility of both the Marathas and the Dalits going against the BJP. “These communities were followers of the Congress and later the Nationalist Congress Party. Hence, the BJP will not be impacted,” Bhandari said. “The political game will go against the Congress as their party leaders have hurt both the Dalit and the Marathas at the same time,” he claimed.

He also rubbishes talks in political circle by NCP leaders that the CM’s skills will be tested in future in appeasing both the Marathas and the Dalits.

“The protesters in Maratha silent morcha were also seen in the farmer’s strike. The Kisan Kranti morcha was the product of Maratha leaders who financed them and supplied manpower to dethrone the Devendra Fadnavis government,” Bhandari said. He added it is dirty politics played by the NCP to disturb the stability and harmony of the state.

Meanwhile, Fadnavis has said left-wing extremists, Jignesh Mewani, the newly-elected Dalit legislator from Gujarat, Radhika Vemula, mother of Rohith Vemula, and others who had visited Bhima-Koregaon on Sunday, were the outsiders who made provocative statements that resulted in the riots. “People from Maharashtra do not want tension but Vikas (development),” he said.