Organizers of Elgaar Parishad, who were Denied Pune City Police Permission to Hold Conference on December 31st, they have said that they will hold it in Pune on January 30th. They also said that if the police deny permission for the conference again, they will hold it “in the streets.”
Previously, on December 20, members of Bhima Koregaon Shaurya Din Prerna Abhiyaan, a body that brings together various organizations that had organized Elgaar Parishad on December 31, 2017, along with retired High Court judge BG Kolse Patil, also one of the conveners of the 2017 conference, had held a meeting in Pune. They had decided to organize another Elgaar Parishad on Thursday, December 31, before the 203rd anniversary of the Battle of Bhima Koregaon on January 1.
Pune city police, however, denied permission for the event, citing the Covid-19 pandemic and public order issues.
At a press conference in Pune on Thursday, Judge (retired) Kolse Patil said: “The aim of organizing Elgaar Parishad has always been to focus politics on the basic needs of ordinary citizens, along with health and education, and take it away from castes, communalism and religious divisions. We were unable to celebrate it on December 31st as planned, so now we will celebrate it on January 30th at the Ganesh Kala Krida Manch auditorium in Pune. And if not, we will keep it on the streets. If that is not allowed, we will fill the jails. “
Akash Sabale, another member of the body, said: “We have now planned to celebrate Elgaar Parishad on January 30 at Ganesh Kala Krida Manch and we have also submitted a request in this regard. The date coincides with the anniversary of the birth of Rohith Vemula. The conference will take place from 11 a.m. M. At 10 p. M. And it will be led by a large number of social activists and opinion leaders from all over the country ”.
Bhima Koregaon Shaurya Din Prerna Abhiyaan had organized the Elgaar Parishad 2017 at Shaniwar Wada in Pune on December 31st. The following day, on January 1, 2018, violence was reported in the Koregaon Bhima area, in which one person was killed and several others were injured. Pune police claimed that “provocative” speeches at the conference were some of the factors that led to the violence in Koregaon Bhima, and arrested several human rights activists from across India in connection with the case.
The 2017 conference was chaired by Gujarat MLA Jignesh Mevani and student leader Umar Khalid, Rohith Vemula’s mother Radhika Vemula, Vanchit leader Bahujan Aghadi, Prakash Ambedkar, activist Soni Sori and Vinay Ratan Singh from the Bhim Army.
The Elgaar Parishad case, which is currently being investigated by the National Investigation Agency, has resulted in the arrest of organizer Sudhir Dawale and several activists, including Sudha Bhardwaj, Gautam Navlakha, Varavara Rao and Stan Swamy, for their alleged links to him. outlaw CPI-Maoist.
Siddharth Dive, another member of the body who addressed the press conference, said: “January 30 is also the day that Nathuram Godse shot and killed Mahatma Gandhi… it can be described as the first act of terrorism in the country. . The conference will also be in solidarity with the thousands of farmers protesting government-imposed farm laws. We will also demand the release of 16 activists currently in jail for a false case, and the arrest of the real culprits Milind Ekbote and Sambhaji Bhide ”.
Activist Harshali Potdar, one of the organizers of the 2017 conference and one of the defendants in the Elgaar Parishad case, was also present at the press conference.
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