Pune: National Congress Party (NCP) supremo Sharad Pawar has alleged that the right-wing forces are behind the violence that took place at Bhima Koregaon, on Monday.
Pawar alleged that outsiders came and provoked the locals in Vadhu village. Pawar also said that there was no history of violence in last several years of the celebrations marking the 200th anniversary of the Battle of Bhima Koregaon, in Pune.
One person was killed in the violence that broke out during the celebrations. More than four lakh people had assembled for the 200th anniversary of the battle in which the British forces had defeated an army of Peshwas back in 1818. Every year on January 1, thousands of Dalits march to Bhima Koregaon to mark the occasion.
“People have been coming to this place for the last 200 years. Nothing of this sort has ever taken place. Since it was the 200th anniversary of a significant event, more crowd was expected and hence the administration should have been more careful,” said Pawar.
“I spoke to the locals of Vadhu village and I am told that some outsiders who belonged to right-wing organisations provoked the violence”, Pawar alleged.
Appealing for peace, the former Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar said that people should not believe in rumours and should maintain calm and peace.
Meanwhile, the Congress too has alleged that the violence in Bhima Koregaon was pre-planned. “The attack was completely pre-meditated. Some people from RSS were campaigning in the area for some time and were trying to instigate people on the backdrop of recent tensions,” alleged Raju Waghmare, spokesperson of the Maharashtra Congress.
