After Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) activists allegedly attacked a car carrying senior journalist Nikhil Wagle at Khandoji Baba Chowk in Pune on Friday night, opposition parties criticised the Maharashtra government. According to reports, Nikhil Wagle’s comments against Prime Minister Narendra Modi and LK Advani were met with protests by BJP members after the veteran member of the ruling party was given India’s highest civilian honour, the Bharat Ratna.
According to an official from the Deccan police station, BJP members threw ink on the car carrying Nikhil Wagle and two other people, Aseem Sarode and Vishwambhar Choudhary, who were being driven under police protection to the Rashtra Seva Dal-organized ‘Nirbhay Bano’ event in the Singhad Road district of Pune.
Sanjay Raut, a Shiv Sena (Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray) MP, responded angrily to the incident. He said that as the Pune Police watched, numerous Maha Vikas Aghadi women workers were beaten up by “BJP goons” and that eggs, stones, and bricks were thrown at them.
“Eggs and ink were hurled at the car of senior journalist Nikhil Wagle. BJP’s blatant attempt to destroy democracy in Pune… MVA won’t be discouraged. Shame on you, Devendra Fadnavis—you’re telling your cadre to hurt and maim innocent Maharashtrian daughters.On social media platform X (formerly Twitter), Sanjay Raut stated, “Maharashtra will not forgive you.”
Priyanka Chaturvedi, a different Shiv Sena (UBT) MP, also responded to the Pune incident. “After our former corporator, Abhishek Ghosalkar, was tragically killed less than a day ago, we now have an attack on people who oppose the Bharatiya Janata Party. Priyanka Chaturvedi posted on X, “Goondagardi under the gundaraj.”
After her party leader Abhishek Ghosalkar was killed in Mumbai earlier on Friday, Priyanka Chaturvedi asked Union Home Minister Amit Shah to step in immediately to address Maharashtra’s law and order issues. Abhishek Ghosalkar mentioned his death on Thursday in a letter to Amit Shah. He also mentioned an earlier instance in which a BJP MLA opened fire inside a police station in the adjacent Thane district earlier this month.
Nikhil Wagle is “a voice of truth and a beacon of journalism,” according to Supriya Sule, who represents the Sharad Pawar faction of the NCP. She expressed her “strong condemnation” of the attack on Wagle.
“This is an attack on freedom of speech in general, not just on a single person. The BJP rule in Maharashtra is causing a decline in law and order, which is concerning and calls for the tightest responsibility. #Goondaraj, wrote Supriya Sule.
What motivated Nikhil Wagle’s attack?
Police said on Friday that Nikhil Wagle, 64, was the target of a formal complaint filed in Pune for allegedly making derogatory statements against Prime Minister Narendra Modi and BJP leader LK Advani following the announcement that the latter would get the Bharat Ratna.
“Nikhil Wagle has been charged at the Vishrambaug police station with violating sections 153A (inciting hatred amongst various communities), 500 (defamation), and 505 (statements conducive to public mischief) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC). The news agency PTI cited an official as saying, “We are looking into this more.
Due to the contentious remarks made by the scribe, senior BJP leader Sunil Deodhar lodged a complaint against him at the Vishrambaug police station on Tuesday.
The Deccan police claimed that a few individuals had climbed onto the four-wheeler, preventing him from getting to the event. Aseem Sarode and Vishwambhar Choudhary, along with Nikhil Wagle, were being driven to the event under police protection when some people threw ink on their cars.
According to TV footage, BJP workers vandalised and mobbed the automobile at Khandoji Baba Chowk, breaking the windscreen and side panes. Under police protection, Nikhil Wagle made it to the event location, the police official continued.
Speaking at the ‘Nirbhay Bano’ function, the journalist remarked, “I apologise to everyone who mistreated me. This was the seventh attack on me in the previous six.”
Earlier, there was a standoff between workers from the opposition Maha Vikas Aghadi and the ruling BJP-Shiv Sena outside the Rashtra Seva Dal headquarters. The demonstrators claimed they would now let Nikhil Wagle speak at the function.
Pune Shiv Sena president Pramod Bhangire, meanwhile, stated that the Shiv Sena was only against Nikhil Wagle’s participation in the event, not the event itself.
