Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader and former Minister of State from Maharashtra Pravin Pote surrendered before the police on Wednesday in connection with the violence that erupted in Amravati district among other places in the State last week.
In further developments, the Nashik police raided the premises of the local branch of the Mumbai-based Raza Academy in Malegaon and seized some material, while sources in the State police have said that the Maharashtra cyber security cell, in a report, had pointed to more than 35 instances where fake social media posts on Facebook, WhatsApp, Twitter and Instagram were allegedly used to incite rioting in Malegaon, Amravati, Nanded and elsewhere on November 12 and 13.
Mr. Pote, an MLC, who was apparently “missing” since the violence and vandalism of November 13 in Amravati, was arrested along with nine other persons on Wednesday after he surrendered himself before the City Kotwali Police Station.
Also Read: Amravati situation under control: Maharashtra Home Minister
Before surrendering, the BJP leader warned the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) alliance government of the Shiv Sena, the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) and the Congress against attempting to “suppress” the Hindu community.
“Internet services have been completely suspended in Amravati as a result of which students, who have exams ahead, are suffering…this district is not Kashmir… I warn the Congress and the NCP not to play with the sentiments of the Hindu community else the blowback will be terrible,” Mr. Pote said.
On November 12, violence had erupted out in at least three cities in the State — Amravati, Malegaon (in Nashik district) and Nanded — after some minority organisations, including the Raza Academy, called for a day-long shutdown to protest against incidents of mosques being allegedly vandalised in Tripura in northeast India.
A “counter bandh” was called by the BJP in Amravati as a challenge to the one called by minority groups on November 13.
According to authorities, hundreds of people, many of them holding saffron flags in their hands and raising slogans, had come out on the streets, which resulted in violence and serious damage to property.
According to officials, Mr. Pote, along with BJP leader Anil Bonde, the former State Agriculture Minister under the erstwhile BJP regime, were instrumental in organising the BJP’s shutdown on November 13.
On Monday, Mr. Bonde, along with 13 others, including Mayor Chetan Gawande, were arrested in connection with the violence. They were later released on bail.
Police authorities said that the suspension of Internet services throughout Amravati was likely to continue for another two days. Only a slight relaxation in the curfew has been allowed, with citizens permitted to buy essentials like groceries between 12 p.m. and 4 p.m., said officials.
Meanwhile, Nashik rural police said that five FIRs had been lodged and 42 persons arrested in connection with the violence and stone-pelting that erupted in Malegaon.
“As per the CCTV footage that we have studied, we have booked those who incited mobs with their inflammatory speeches,” said Sachin Patil, Superintendent of Police, Nashik-Rural, while confirming the raids on the Malegaon office of the Raza Academy.
Section 144 of the CrPC, prohibiting gathering of more than five persons and a strict monitoring of the Internet, among other orders, have also been imposed in Akola district till November 19, and are in force in Pune rural and parts of Sangli district till November 20.
The violence has turned into a full-fledged political slanging match with the BJP accusing the ruling MVA of “going soft” on the real instigators of the violence while the Sena, Congress and the NCP have accused the BJP of hatching a “pre-planned conspiracy” to foment rioting across Maharashtra.
An editorial in the Shiv Sena’s mouthpiece Saamana today targeted the BJP, remarking that “fake Hindutvawaadis” were responsible for the Amravati violence in order to win the upcoming Assembly election in Uttar Pradesh.
While the editorial conceded that the bandh called by Mumbai based-Raza Academy to protest the alleged violence in Tripura was “unwarranted”, it nonetheless said that the academy lacked the organisational capability to indulge in rioting and violence.
The editorial, on the occasion of the ninth death anniversary of the late Shiv Sena supremo Balasaheb Thackeray, said that the Raza Academy is an organisation limited to distributing pamphlets.
“They do not have the strength to indulge in violence and stone-pelting. Even then, it was not correct to give a bandh call in Maharashtra owing to the incident in Tripura. Fake Hindutvawadis burnt Amravati, taking advantage of the bandh. If Balasaheb was alive, the Raza Academy would not have dared to distribute pamphlets and the masks of the fake Hindutvawadis in Vidarbha would have peeled off.”
