Nagpur:
Maratha Mahasangh national president Baban Taywade on Thursday slammed the Devendra Fadnavis government for indiscriminate clampdown on hundreds of Dalits and other activists for participating in the Bhima-Koregaon agitation following the January 1 violence.
Talking to ToI, he said youth, women and even minors were being detained by the police from their houses at odd times, as part of combing operations in several cities. "Obviously, this police tyranny is at the behest of the BJP-led government that is guided by Manuwadi (casteist) principles," said Taywade. While social activists who protested the violence are being rounded up, the main culprits — Sambhaji Bhide and Milind Ekbote — against whom police have filed cases for instigating violence, are roaming scot free," Taywade alleged.
Meanwhile, the Maratha Sewa Sangh, OBC Mahasangh, and Buddhist organizations have come together in the city, and decided to form a joint committee to ensure unity among these communities. "After the Bhima-Koregaon incident, some politicians with vested interests tried to create a rift between Marathas and Buddhists by painting it as communal friction between these communities," said Aman Kamble, who, along with Pradip Aglave and Sunil Talware and others, represented the Buddhists at the joint meeting held on Tuesday at Baliraja Bhavan in Surve Nagar.
Kamble said they will be meeting again next week to chalk out joint action. "These communities have joined hands to show that there never was any friction between them and that they acted with restraint to restore peace after the Jan 1 violence," said Kamble. Taywade, Sanjay Shende, Ramesh Rathod and others represented OBC Mahasangh while the Maratha Sewa Sangh's Dilip Khodke, Madhukar Mehkare, Avinash Kakde and Sambhaji Brigade's Ankush Burunge, Shivmati Nanda Deshmukh were also present.
It was decided that a joint plan would be implemented by these communities to counter the alleged BJP-led designs to polarize people along caste lines. "The government sponsored agencies are trying to spread 'Manuwad' among the backward classes, and time has come to check them by promoting idea of equality of deprived classes so that their interests are protected," said Taywade and Kamble.
