Why was NCP silent over Maval firing: Anna Hazare

Veteran anti-corruption crusader Anna Hazare on Friday questioned the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) cadres why they were silent when farmers were shot at by the police during a protest in Maval taluka of Pune district.

Hazare was reacting after protests were staged by NCP cadres outside the Yadavbaba temple in Ralegan Siddhi, in response to his controversial remark after Sharad Pawar was assaulted by a Sikh youth in New Delhi on Thursday.

“The attack on Pawar was an attack on the very pillars of democracy, and I condemn it. But the NCP cadres should introspect, and think why they were silent when three farmers were killed in police firing in Maval in August,” he said.

Hazare was referring to the police firing on Pune-Mumbai expressway, in which three farmers, including a woman, were killed when the Pune rural police opened fire on farmers protesting against the construction of a water pipeline from Pavana dam to the Pimpri-Chinchwad township.

“The right to peaceful protest is an intrinsic one in a democracy, and the farmers were exercising the same,” he said.

After Pawar was slapped by the youth on Thursday, Hazare had initially asked, albeit tongue-in-cheek, whether Pawar was slapped just once. Later, he claimed that his statement was “distorted by the media”, and condemned the attack.

Hazare’s remark was condemned by NCP cadets throughout the state and local members of the party had organised a protest rally to Ralegan Siddhi.