Manikrao Thakre and Munna Ojha help getting bail for the office-bearers of Youth Congress
Nagpur: On Monday the December 22, 2014, the police officials stationed at the second barricade near Jaika Motors had to resort to lathi charge to quell and disperse the office-bearers of Maharashtra Pradesh Youth Congress (MPYC) led by President Vishwajeet Kadam and Observer Himat Singh, Kunal Raut, Bunty Sherke and others.
Reliable sources said that the MPYC members had earlier planned to take out a rally starting at Patwardhan Grounds to Munje Square to LIC passing through Railway Station and then ending at Bishop Cotton School after passing Kasturchand Park Grounds.
However, in the last minute, the MPYC office-bearers changed the programme and started the rally from Kasturchand Park Grounds. The members and office-bearers of MPYC took out the rally and reached the first barricade near Bishop Cotton High School (Opposite Liberty Talkies). There in-spite of the police stopping them, they broke the barricades and reached the second barricade near Jaika Motors. There they tried to push their way to the Vidhan Bhawan. Had they succeeded, there was only one other barricade situated near the Vidhan Bhawan main gate.
However, the police sensing trouble reinforced the barricades with the steel ones along with the wooden barricades. When the rallying Youth Congress activists did not relent and started pushing around, the police had to resort to lathi charge.
Eight Youth Congress activists injured in the lathi charge
When Nagpur Today spoke to the MPYC office-bearers, they told that President of East Nagpur Youth Congress Pravin Pote has incurred a hand-fracture and City Chief Rakesh Nikose too has got injuries to his hand and had to be taken to Hospital for treatment. The others who got mild injuries include Kunal Puri, Chakradhar Bhoyar and Nilesh Chandrikapure of South Nagpur, Vaibhav Kale and Mangesh Kamone of South West Nagpur.
Agitators taken to Open Jail, released only after Manikrao intervened
After the lathi charge, the police officials loaded the agitating Youth Congress activists onto three big police vans and took them to the Open Jail situated opposite to the State CID Office. There they were held till Former President of the Maharashtra Pradesh Congress Committee Manikrao Thakre and Munna Ojha arrived there and secured the release of the held Youth Congress activists.
Manikrao Thakre flays lathi charge by cops
While talking exclusively with Nagpur Today, Manikrao Thakre said that the office-bearers of Maharashtra Pradesh Youth Congress were agitating for the cause of the farmers. Manikrao Thakre claimed that this year, the farmers growing Cotton, Soyabean, Sugarcane crops suffered huge losses due to the untimely rains, hail-storms, drought and pests. This in-turn caused many farmers to commit suicide too.
The state government run by the BJP has done nothing to allay the state of the farmers in Vidarbha and Maratwada. The package that has been declared is too insufficient and that too has not reached the farmers as yet. Manikrao Thakre claimed that they have demanded that the farmers should be paid Rs 50,000 per hectare. The loans should be waived; the power bills should be waived off, the families of the farmers who have committed suicide should be adequately compensated by giving employment to their youth or free education to their children etc.
He also claimed that he completely decries the lathi charge incident. The police officials should not have resorted to lathi charge.
