Maharashtra Cong felicitates party worker shamed by BJP for PM Modi's morphed images

BJP workers had earlier forcibly draped a saree around the Congress worker and posted the video online.

A programme was organised by Maharashtra Congress president Harshwardhan Sapkal in Kalyan on Saturday to felicitate Prakash Pagare, the 73-year old Congress worker from the suburb who was humiliated by Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) workers last month, and a video of the act was subsequently put up on social media. Sapkal expressed the party’s goodwill towards Pagare by lifting him up on his shoulders, aided by two other Congress workers.

File photo of Maharashtra Congress chief Harshwardhan Sapkal.(HT_PRINT)

Local BJP workers had confronted Pagare on September 23 after he had posted a morphed picture of Prime Minister Narendra Modi on X. The workers forcibly draped a new red saree around him, took a video of the incident, and released it on various social media platforms.

In his speech, Sapkal said, “The party is standing by Pagare. This is a party that is being run by its workers. I would like to reiterate what I said when several leaders were exiting the party last year – the more challenges you throw towards the party, the faster it will bounce back.”

Pagare, on the other hand, lambasted the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) over their contribution to the freedom struggle, saying “the real men went to jail, the others went to the RSS”. He added: “I am not someone who becomes demoralised by one incident. Congress stands on acts of sacrifice.”

Sapkal’s unusual gesture comes a fortnight after Leader of Opposition Rahul Gandhi spoke to Pagare on the phone following his humiliation at the hands of BJP workers. Following the incident, the senior citizen was admitted at a local hospital in Dombivli. The development was shared with people close to Gandhi by senior Congress leader Balasaheb Thorat, during his visit to New Delhi to attend the party’s working committee meeting.

Both the state BJP spokesperson Keshav Upadhye and Kalyan BJP president Nandu Parab did not respond to HT’s calls for a comment on the matter.