People visit the Koregaon Bhima war memorial on 205th anniversary of Koregaon Bhima battle, in Pune district, Sunday, Jan. 1, 2023. (PTI Photo) Pune Guardian Minister Chandrakant Patil skipped a visit to Jaystambh in Koregaon Bhima Sunday after facing threats of an ‘ink attack’. Notably, ink was thrown at Patil recently after he made statements that were construed as insulting to Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar, Mahatma Phule, and Rajarshi Shahu.
“Despite apologising twice, a cowardly attack was made on me by distorting my statements. Those who claimed that an insult was done to Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar, trampled his constitution under their feet. All of Dr Ambedkar’s agitations were peaceful, without exceptions. Even now a threat has been made that if I visited Koregaon Bhima for a darshan, ink will be thrown at me. To walk on the road shown by Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar, I am ready to brave bullets,†Patil said in the statement.
He alleged that he avoided visiting the event considering that “some people have an eager desire to see some untoward incident at the event and caste-based riots over it.â€
On December 10, Manoj Garbade, 34, a Samata Sainik Dal worker, and two others threw ink on Patil as he came out of a BJP worker’s home in Pimpri and shouted slogans against him. The three were arrested and initially booked under Sections of the Indian Penal Code including an attempt to murder. Following protests, the Sections pertaining to the attempt to murder were dropped and the trio was released on bail.