Mumbai: Bharip Bahujan Mahasangh leader Prakash Ambedkar said the law should view right-wing leaders Sambhaji Bhide and Milind Ekbote on par with Yakub Memon, who was hanged for his role in the 1993 Mumbai bomb blasts. “The main culprits behind the riot on January 1 are Milind Ekbote and Sambhaji Bhide. The Supreme Court had observed that though Memon was not present at the blast sites, he knew the plan. These two should be tried similarly.”
Mr. Ambedkar, who called off the state-wide bandh to protest violence in Pune district at an event marking the bicentenary of the Battle of Bhima-Koregaon, said, “All organisations associated with this agitation have decided to call off the day-long strike. We had announced a one-day bandh, and half of the State’s population was with us today.”
He claimed that certain right wing organisations were creating chaos in the country. “The names of Umar Khalid and independent Gujarat MLA Jignesh Mevani are linked to the Bhima-Koregaon violence, but they hade nothing to do with it.”
An event on January 1 to celebrate the battle’s bicentenary by Mr. Ambedkar’s and other Dalit organisations, Maratha and Left parties at Bhima-Koregaon near Pune city was opposed by some groups allegedly linked to Mr. Ekbote and Mr. Bhide. A former BJP corporator from Pune, Mr. Ekbote is presently with the Hindu Ekta Aghadi, a radical right wing group. Mr. Bhide is one of the founders of Shivrajya Pratisthan, another radical right wing group.
As Dalit community members neared Bhima-Koregaon, they were attacked and pelted with stones. Enraged, the community rose in protest and called a Maharashtra Bandh on Wednesday.
