Pune, Sep 30 (PTI) The history of Koregaon Bhima is one of sacrifice but some communal elements are trying to wipe it out, NCP (SP) chief Sharad Pawar said on Monday.
Violence broke out a day after the Elgar Parishad event was organised on December 31, 2017 in Pune to commemorate the 1818 Koregaon Bhima battle in which a British army comprising Dalits defeated the Peshwas.
The Maharashtra government had set up the Koregaon Bhima Inquiry Commission in February 2018 under former High Court chief justice JN Patel to probe the violence.
Speaking at a function in which advocate Rahul Makhare, who is representing some of the witnesses before the commission, joined the NCP (SP), Pawar said the violence caused restlessness in the state and the country.
“One day, I received summons to be present before the commission. During the cross-examination, some people attempted to force me to say certain things. The history of Koregaon Bhima is a history of people who sacrificed their lives. But some communal elements are trying to wipe out that history,” he said.
“Some youth took the initiative and brought truth before society. Makhare is among them,” Pawar added.
Pawar said Prime Minister Narendra Modi was a threat to society and claimed the thought in the latter’s mind is “detrimental to equality”.
“Today, the rulers are trying to pose a threat to the Constitution given to us by Babasaheb Ambedkar,” he said, adding that it was leaders from the BJP who claimed they would change the Constitution if the party got 400 seats in the 2024 Lok Sabha polls.
India remains free of instability, which has plagued neighbouring countries, because of the Constitution and all credit for it goes to Babasaheb Ambedkar, Pawar asserted. PTI SPK BNM
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