The Congress and NCP raised this issue in the state legislative assembly on Monday. Questioning if a water worship or purification rite was conducted at the lake, leader of Opposition Radhakrishna Vikhe Patil said the ritual had been conducted in the presence of a Brahmin priest and in a clandestine manner.
After controversy over the historic Chavdar lake in Mahad, where Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar had conducted his satyagraha in 1927, being 'purified' by Shiv Sena MLA Bharatseth Gogawale, the state government has assured a probe into the legislator's allegations that wrong messages about this were circulated on social media.
The Congress and NCP raised this issue in the state legislative assembly on Monday. Questioning if a water worship or purification rite was conducted at the lake, leader of Opposition Radhakrishna Vikhe Patil said the ritual had been conducted in the presence of a Brahmin priest and in a clandestine manner.
The Mahad Satyagraha was launched by Ambedkar to press for the demands of Dalits to use water from the public tank in an assertion of their rights from a caste-ridden society. Ambedkar and his associates had drunk water from the lake and, later, upper caste Hindus had "purified" the water body through a ritual.
Vikhe also pointed to the attack on a Buddhist Dhamma parivartan sabha and the controversy at Fergusson College in Pune, where an event organised by the ABVP met with opposition from pro-Left and Dalit organisations. Later, college principal RG Pardeshi had kicked up a row by writing to the police, claiming that anti-national slogans had been raised at the event. He later withdrew the complaint.
Vikhe Patil alleged that those who raised the "Jai Bhim" slogan had been accused of sedition and that Sujaat Ambedkar and Prakash Ambedkar, who is the great-grandson of Ambedkar and former Lok Sabha MP and Bharatiya Republican Paksha-Bahujan Mahasangh chief had been threatened.
However, Gogawale clarified that the ritual he had attended as chief guest was part of a programme organised by the water resources department for its water conservation awareness week. Moreover, the department's officials were also present for it, added Gogawale, denying that the ritual was conducted after Ambedkar's followers came to the site on March 20 to commemorate the event.
"This programme happened on March 19… social media went viral, saying this was done on the 22nd," said Gogawale, stressing that this was a government event. He also sought action against those who had spread this wrong message and called it an attempt to drive a wedge between two communities.
"Even we have respect (for Dr Ambedkar)," said Gogawale, adding that they also made arrangements for Ambedkarites who came to Mahad.
Finance minister Sudhir Mungantiwar said the government would inquire into it and take strict action against those who had sent a wrong message and attempted to spoil the atmosphere.
However, the Opposition, which rushed to the well of the House, with some women members also climbing on to speaker Haribhau Bagade's dais, sought a reply on this and the Fergusson issue from chief minister Devendra Fadnavis, who also holds charge of the Home portfolio. They shouted Jai Bhim slogans. After repeated adjournments due to the din, the assembly was adjourned for the day.
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