Pune: The Sambhaji Brigade has accused the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) of attempting to create a divide along caste lines by holding a commemorative event of writer Ram Ganesh Gadkari in the city’s Sambhaji Park.
Earlier this month, four activists of the Brigade had vandalised Gadkari’s bust in the park, claiming that the writer, in his unfinished play Raj Sanyas , had ‘defamed’ the Maratha King Sambhaji, son of Chhatrapati Shivaji, by portraying him as an alcoholic and a womaniser.
Members of the Brahman Mahasangh later placed Gadkari’s photo frame in place of the uprooted bust.
Earlier this week, the BJP legislator from Kothrud, Medha Kulkarni, backing the Mahasangh, said that a function would be organised at the park to commemorate the writer’s 98th death anniversary.
Irked by this, the Sambhaji Brigade has claimed that Ms. Kulkarni plans to read out excerpts from Raj Sanyas, in a bid “to deliberately provoke the Maratha community”.
“This is a deliberate attempt on the BJP’s part to politicise the issue and engineer a social divide. The very fact that she [Ms. Kulkarni] chose Sambhaji Park as the venue, to insult the Maratha king, is proof of her negative intentions,” a member of the Brigade Santosh Shinde said.
Mr. Shinde said the move is “a deliberate attempt to hurt the sentiments of the Maratha community,” at a time when the model code of conduct for the civic elections is already in place.
The BJP and the Shiv Sena had also accused the Brigade of attempting to create a social divide after it vandalised Gadkari’s bust.
