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Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis on Thursday said the incident of a mob allegedly attacking police personnel in Aurangabad city, now named Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar, was unfortunate and appealed to leaders to avoid making provocative statements and giving political colour to it.
A mob of more than 500 people allegedly attacked policemen on Wednesday night after some youth clashed among themselves. The incident, which lasted around an hour, took place in Kiradpura locality, which has a famous Ram temple where a huge crowd is expected to celebrate the Ram Navami on Thursday, police officials said.
Speaking at his residence in Nagpur on the violence, Fadnavis, who also holds the home portfolio, said, “The incident that happened in Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar is very unfortunate and efforts are on to maintain peace in the area. However, some people are trying to vitiate the atmosphere there by making provocative statements.” “I feel that political leaders should know how to behave in such situations. Hence, if anyone is giving such wrong statements they should refrain from it. Everyone should maintain peace. If anyone is trying to give political colour to this incident, then it is unfortunate,” he said in response to a query about some leaders accusing him of being responsible for the episode.
According to police, some vehicles were damaged in the violence in Aurangabad and a combing operation was underway to nab those involved.
On a query about a Supreme Court bench comprising Justices K M Joseph and B V Nagarathna on Wednesday taking serious exception to hate speeches while hearing a plea seeking contempt action against the authorities in Maharashtra for their alleged failure to restrain inflammatory speeches, Fadnavis said the apex court has not initiated any contempt action against the state government.
“First of all, the SC has not made any such observation. After the Maharashtra government apprised the court of the action taken by it, the court did not initiate any contempt action against the Maharashtra government,” Fadnavis said.
“Similarly, the Solicitor General brought to the notice of the court about what is happening in other states and only Maharashtra is being targeted. That is when the court made a general statement for all states that the state governments must take action. I feel there is no decision against the state government or initiated any contempt action,” the senior Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader said.
Some people are unnecessarily drawing wrong meanings out of it, he added.
