RPI attacks Colors TV office over Aseem Trivedi's eviction from 'Bigg Boss'

Activists of Ramdas Athawale-led Republican Party of India (RPI) on Thursday pelted stones at the office of Colors TV channel in Mumbai to reiterate their demand for evicting cartoonist Aseem Trivedi from reality show Bigg Boss 6.

"Around 20 activists from our youth wing pelted stones at the office of Colors TV located in suburban Andheri (in northwest Mumbai). This is just a reminder to them (the channel) about our demand to evict Aseem," party spokesperson Mayur Borkar said.

A source from Colors channel confirmed the development and said that the activists damaged glass windows of the office. However, no one was injured and the damage was not severe, the source said.

According to Borkar, Athawale had met with the management of Colors TV last week and it had assured the RPI that Trivedi would be evicted from the Bigg Boss house on Friday. Colors management, however, refused to confirm or deny this.

When asked as to why stones were pelted at Colors office, Borkar said: "We wanted to show them a preview of what could happen if Aseem was not evicted from the Bigg Boss house tomorrow."

Athawale had raised objections to Colors TV channel including Trivedi in the show as he had allegedly committed insults to various symbols of India and denigrated the constitution.

Borkar earlier said Trivedi was unknown till he targeted various Indian symbols like the tricolour, the Ashok Chakra, parliament and the constitution.

"While the Maharashtra government may have let him off, he is still unanswerable to us as he has denigrated the Constitution of India, penned by the great Dalit leader Babasaheb Ambedkar," he earlier said.

More than two months ago, Trivedi hogged the limelight after the Maharashtra government slapped sedition charges on him for sketching obscene cartoons denigrating the Indian constitution and other symbols, during last year's Anna Hazare-led anti-corruption crusade in Mumbai.

Trivedi was thrown into jail but was released after a public outcry. The sedition charges against him were quietly dropped.

Currently in its sixth season, Bigg Boss is a reality show where contestants are locked inside the house for 98 days, away from the comforts of their everyday lives, and without any communication with the outside world. They have 70 cameras observing their activities 24x7.

The show began with 15 contestants, and so far three of them — Bhojpuri actor Dinesh Yadav, commoner Kashif Qureshi and actress Sayantani Ghosh — have already been voted out by the viewers. There will be two evictions in the episode to be aired Friday.