PAWAR INVITES BRAHMINS FOR OPEN DIALOGUE

HT Correspondent

MUMBAI : Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) chief Sharad Pawar has invited representatives of Brahmin outfits in the state for an open dialogue in Pune on Saturday, to clear his party’s stand about the community after misunderstandings.

The move assumes significance considering the antibrahmin accusation against Pawar and NCP by the opposition — Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). The meeting will be held at Nisarg Mangal Karyalaya, Gultekdi in Pune on Saturday evening.

Pradeep Garatkar, Pune NCP district president, confirmed the development. “There is a deliberate attempt to create misunderstanding against NCP among the Brahmin community. Social media is full of messages claiming that the NCP is an anti-brahmin party. We want to remove this misunderstanding by holding a direct interaction,” Garatkar told Hindustan Times.

Dr Govind Kulkarni, Akhil Bharatiya Brahman Mahasangh, said that NCP leaders have made objectionable and defaming statements that have hurt the community.

“NCP legislator Amol Mitkari made objectionable and defaming statements against Brahmnins at a party gathering. On April 23, state NCP minister Chhagan Bhujbal said Brahmins don’t teach vedas to backward classes. We wanted to meet Pawar and express our displeasure. He has invited us for a meeting on Saturday,” Dr Kulkarni said.

In a recent gathering, Pawar read out a poem penned by poet Jawahar Rathod, that deals with the issue of casteism that backward classes face. In this poem, a stone-cutter laments that he made the idols of Brahma, Vishnu and Mahesh using his chisel and these idols were installed in the temple, but the stone-cutters themselves were not allowed to step inside because of their caste.

On April 19, Mitkari mimicked a Brahmin, who performed Hindu rituals like ‘Kanyadaan’ at weddings, while addressing Natiionalist Congress Party’s Pariwar Samwad Yatra at Islampur in Sangli.