Attack on Nikhil Wagle pushes Pune BJP into a corner: Party leadership raps it for giving Oppn ammo ahead of LS polls

The city units of the Congress, Sena (UBT) and NCP-Sharadchandra Pawar came out in support of Nikhil Wagle and accused the BJP and allies of indulging in hooliganism after coming to power.

Party workers had attacked Wagle’s car, breaking its windowpanes and putting the lives of its occupants in danger despite police protection. (Express Photo by Arul Horizon)

The recent attack on senior journalist Nikhil Wagle in Pune over his controversial remarks against Prime Minister Narendra Modi and veteran leader L K Advani has pushed the city unit of the BJP into a corner with the party pulling up local leaders for creating a law and order issue while giving the Opposition an opportunity to attack the BJP.

“The senior party leadership has pulled up the local leaders for the incident that is being used by the Opposition to criticise our party ahead of the Lok Sabha elections,” said a BJP leader. The attack by party workers on the journalist’s car as he was headed to deliver a speech at a Nirbhay Bano meeting has not pleased the party high command, he said.

The Pune BJP, led by its chief Dheeraj Ghate, had organised the protest on Friday to stop Wagle from reaching the venue of the Nirbhay Bano meeting. Party workers had attacked Wagle’s car, breaking its windowpanes and putting the lives of its occupants in danger despite police protection.

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The city units of the Congress, Shiv Sena (UBT) and NCP-Sharadchandra Pawar had come out in support of Wagle to challenge the BJP and its alliance partners who had warned of violent protests against the journalist over his remarks in the wake of the Bharat Ratna awarded to Advani.

The NCP-Sharadchandra Pawar held a protest in the city on Saturday accusing the BJP of indulging in hooliganism after coming to power. The city Congress unit too organised an agitation on Monday against the incident and its youth wing workers were detained by police after they decided to walk to the Pune BJP office.

Ajay Jadhav

Ajay Jadhav is an Assistant Editor with The Indian Express, Pune. He writes on Infrastructure, Politics, Civic issues, Sustainable Development and related stuff. He is a trekker and a sports enthusiast. Ajay has written research articles on the Conservancy staff that created a nationwide impact in framing policy to improve the condition of workers handling waste. Ajay has been consistently writing on politics and infrastructure. He brought to light the lack of basic infrastructure of school and hospital in the hometown of Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde even as two private helipads were developed by the leader who mostly commutes from Mumbai to Satara in helicopter. Ajay has been reporting on sustainable development initiatives that protects the environment while ensuring infrastructure development. ... Read More

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