‘Fadnavis facing threats from Hindutva forces’

mumbai — Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis faces serious threats to his life from certain pro-Hindutva elements, Bharipa Bahujan Mahasangh President Prakash Ambedkar claimed on Wednesday.

To justify his contention, Ambedkar pointed to a Facebook post of one Raosaheb Patil who, the BRP chief says, is a “close aide” of Sambhaji V. Bhide, President of Shri Shiv Pratisthan Hindustan, a pro-Hindutva ultrarightist outfit from western Maharashtra.

Raosaheb Patil’s post at 10.12pm on January 1 terms Fadnavis, his ministerial colleague Girish Bapat and former journalist Sudheendra Kulkarni as “insects” (keeda) who could be “chopped off ”.

“If you fall short of figures for Koregaon-Bhima, you are free to chop off Girish Bapat, Devendra Fadnavis, Sudheendra Kulkarni, I shall have no objections. They are insects infesting the country and the state,” Raosaheb Patil’s post said.

Incidentally, the post came on the day when Koregaon-Bhima village in Pune district was rocked by casteist riots in which a 28-yearold youth from Nanded was killed, Ambedkar told media persons here.

Working as an “assistant at Balaji Motion Pictures”, Raosaheb Patil has described himself as a “staunch Shiv Sainik” and follower of the ideologies of late Sena founder Bal Thackeray.

His Facebook profile displays pictures of the late Thackeray, Bhide, and Chhatrapati Shivaji. Interestingly, the Shiv Sena is a constituent of the ruling National Democratic Alliance led by the Bharatiya Janata Party at the Centre and a major partner in the Maharashtra alliance.

Ambedkar, who led a successful Maharashtra shutdown on January 3 that claimed the life of a schoolboy (also in Nanded), has consistently targeted Bhide and another pro-Hindutva leader from Pune, Milind Ekbote, for the KoregaonBhima riots and demanded their arrest and prosecution on murder charges. —