Congress-NCP corporators sing national anthem to force protesting Shiv Sena, BJP and MNS men to remain immobile in PMC house
Congress-NCP corporators sing national anthem to force protesting Shiv Sena, BJP and MNS men to remain immobile in PMC house
Violence broke out in the Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) nine hours after the hush-hush removal of Dadoji Konddeo's statue from the Lal Mahal yesterday. As the police and security personnel reportedly looked the other way and matters threatened to go out of hand, the Congress and NCP hit upon a novel idea to stop the rampaging Shiv Sena and BJP corporators. They began singing the national anthem.
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| What's going on? Protesters in action in the General Body meeting |
The move stopped the protesters in their tracks, forcing them to stand at attention. And by the time the anthem were over, the protesters had lost their tempo.
Mayor first victimThe PMC quietly removed the Dadoji statue in the wee hours yesterday. Later in the day, Mayor Mohansingh Rajpal, who chaired the General Body meeting, was confident that no untoward incident would happen in the city, but became the first victim of the angry Shiv Sena and BJP men.
"When the violence went out of control and the sound system in the house was damaged, there was no option but to sing the national anthem to stop the menace," said Arvind Shinde, chairman, Standing Committee. "Any Indian stands at attention for the national anthem. Our Congress colleagues Aaba Bagul and Kamal Vyavahareu00a0 started singing it when the violence would not stop."
Neelesh Nikam, the leader of the house from the NCP, supported the idea. "It worked and the breaking of furniture stopped for at least three minutes, and the tempers of the protesters were cooled by then," he said.
The Shiv Sena and BJP corporators demanded the reinstallation of the Dadoji statue at the Lal Mahal.
The violence began with a group of 30 BJP and Shiv Sena members marching to the Mayor's table in the PMC house right after the national song Vande Mataram. Mayor Mohansingh Rajpal, who had announced the removal of the statue, was their target.u00a0
'Ideal' corporatorThe violence started when Vasant More, an MNS corporator who was felicitated as an ideal corporator, reportedly pulled the Mayor's chair and threw it away. The BJP's Vikas Mathkari and Ujjwal Keskar started hitting the glass of Mayor's table and started arguing with him, demanding to know why the statue was removed without the knowledge of the house at 3 am yesterday.
Just before the General Body meeting began, Mayor Mohansingh Rajpal spoke to MiD DAY. He said the civic administration acted in accordance with the majority decision in the December 23 General Body meeting.
He also said the city would remain calm in spite of the Pune bandh called by the Shiv Sena. Five minutes later, he became the first target of opposition members' anger.
