Won’t hand over Bhima-Koregaon probe to Centre: Uddhav clarifies

Maharashtra chief minister Uddhav Thackeray on Tuesday said the Bhima-Koregaon violence and Elgar Parishad probes are two different issues and that the state had

Maharashtra chief minister Uddhav Thackeray on Tuesday said the Bhima-Koregaon violence and Elgar Parishad probes are two different issues and that the state had not handed over the latter to the Centre. Thackeray said only the state government will probe the Bhima-Koregaon violence and that he will ensure there is no injustice to the Dalit community.

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“Elgar and Bhima-Koregaon are two separate issues. The issue faced by my Dalit brothers is about Bhima- Koregaon and I will not give it to the Centre. It will not be investigated [by the Centre]. I want to make it clear that there will be no injustice to my Dalit brothers,’’ said Thackeray. He was speaking to reporters in Sindhudurg district.

Meanwhile, Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) chief Sharad Pawar addressed a press conference in Mumbai on Tuesday, reiterating the demand for setting up a special investigation team (SIT) to probe the Elgar Parishad case, which had been handed over to the National Investigation Agency (NIA).

Pawar also reiterated that Elgar Parishad and Bhima-Koregaon refer to two different issues. The Bhima-Koregaon case refers to violence on new year’s day in 2018 at the war memorial in Pune district where lakhs of visitors, largely Dalits, had gathered for the 200th anniversary of the 1818 victory of the British army manned by Dalit soldiers against the Peshwas, the Brahmin rulers.

A group of unidentified men on motorbikes attacked visitors and pelted stones, killing one person and injuring 40.

A two- member commission led by a retired chief justice Of Calcutta high court was set up by former chief minister Devendra Fadnavis to probe this violence, but it has not submitted its report yet. The commission recently got a two-month extension to submit its final report.

The Dalit community in the state is upset with the way the Bhima-Koregaon probe was investigated as no charges were brought against Hindu hard-line leaders, Sambhaji Bhide and Milind Ekbote, whom several Dalit community leaders complained had instigated the violence. Dalits make up 13% of the state’s population.

The police investigation under the former government had focused on the Elgar Parishad event held a day before, on December 31 in Pune. The police probe said the event was funded by left-wing leaders and “urban naxals”, to instigate the violence and clashes at Bhima-Koregaon. In June and August 2018, the Pune police arrested nine prominent activists, linking them to this case, and raided homes of several others in Delhi and Mumbai.

Soon after the Maharashtra Vikas Aghadi (MVA) was formed, Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) chief Sharad Pawar had said that the Elgar Parishad probe was unfair and writers and intellectuals were arrested because they opposed the government and its ideology. Pawar had also written to Thackeray to set up an SIT in the Elgar Parishad probe, but just before this decision could be taken, the Centre sought the handover of the case to the NIA. Last week, Thackeray approved this transfer, overruling his home minister from the NCP, Anil Deshmukh, who was of the opinion to legally challenge it. Following this, Pawar had publicly expressed his unhappiness over Thackeray’s decision to hand over the Elgar Parishad probe to the NIA.

Prakash Bal, a Mumbai-based political analyst, said, “What is happening now is a display of the internal dynamics of the MVA. The step to probe Bhima-Koregaon is to toe the NCP line, which is disappointed with Thackeray over the Elgar Parishad case going to NIA. If Uddhav probes Bhima-Koregaon, it also means that he does not trust the commission set up by Devendra Fadnavis government.’’