As opponents of the Bharatiya Janata Party from political and media fraternities keep blaming Prime Minister Narendra Modi for suppressing freedom of speech and expression in India during his regime, back-to-back arrests are seen in Maharashtra for social media posts against the leaders of ruling Maha Vikas Aghadi alliance. Now, in another recent incident, NCP goons have beaten a BJP spokesperson named Vinayak Ambekar in Pune for a Facebook post criticizing Sharad Pawar. It is notable that Sharad Pawar is being criticized in the last few days for his controversial remarks about Hindu deities which he made while hiding behind the shield of a piece of poetry penned by Jawahar Rathod.
शरद पवारांवर सोशल मीडियावर वादग्रस्त पोस्ट करणे भाजपच्या विनायक आंबेकर यांना भोवले; राष्ट्रवादीच्या कार्यकर्त्यांकडून मारहाण#pune #ncp #bjp pic.twitter.com/cKc3xEA59Q
— Lokmat (@lokmat) May 14, 2022
In the video of this incident, it is seen that Vinayak Ambekar who was sitting in his office was visited by a group of NCP goons to ask him a clarification about his Facebook post. Though Vinayak Ambekar was answering them patiently and was about to give an explanation, an NCP goon slapped him on his face.
BJP spokesperson Vinayak Ambekar had actually made changes to his original post and reshared it. The modified post says, “Last two lines in my poem were written by mistake. There was no bad intention behind writing those lines. But my leader Girish Bapat has conveyed to me that people’s feelings are hurt due to this. I apologize to those whose feelings are hurt. Now my poetry is as follows – “
Below, Vinayak Ambekar wrote, “I am tired of setting people on fight with each other, but I am yet not content. I held a post for a long, but could not do anything. I am just a gossiper, no one calls me father. I myself say that I am a father because there is no contentment in my heart. My nephew and my grandson, both don’t listen to me.”
Sharad Pawar attracted much criticism after he recently called himself the father of the Hindu deities by quoting poetry. Arrests after such criticism have become normal and a large chunk of the regional leaders and media are seen supporting such arrests rather than protecting the freedom of expression and speech. Marathi actor Ketaki Chitale was arrested on 14th May 2022 for sharing an allegedly derogatory post on Facebook against NCP supremo Sharad Pawar. A youth named Nikhil Bhamre from Nashik was arrested for a critical social media post made against NCP president Sharad Pawar.
