BJP leader says he deleted lines from Pawar post ‘voluntarily’; no action yet against his attackers

Ambekar said the NCP workers seemed to have planned the attack to make a video for circulation. He said he had already removed two objectionable lines from the Facebook post voluntarily after he received calls from senior BJP leaders. “Yet, they came to my office, abused me in filthy language and slapped me. It seemed they wanted to make a video of the attack and make it viral. When I stood up and challenged them, one of them hit me. After that they left,” he said.

Ambekar said, “I had posted a poem on my Facebook page. I had not named anyone. But yes I agree I should not have written the last two lines in the poem. I also got a call from our leaders Girish Bapat and Jagdish Mullick. They said they had got a call from the NCP’s Ankush Kakade objecting to my post. I immediately deleted the two lines on the request of my leaders. But I also realised that the two lines were unwarranted. I then posted an apology on the Facebook post.”

“It’s not my party’s tradition to wish bad things for anyone. When this was brought to my notice, I retracted the last two lines from the post. The rest of the post still stands and it does not name anyone,” said Ambekar. He accused the NCP’s Ankush Kakade of having engineered the assault.

Ambekar, a tax consultant, was approached by an NCP worker posing as a business owner who needed tax advice. The man came to his office with about 20 people and allegedly slapped him after arguing with him.

Kakade told The Indian Express that the episode was a result of a feeling of frustration among NCP workers that since the party takes a tolerant stance, its leaders become easy prey for defamatory and derogatory campaigns.

“There’s a feeling among NCP workers that it was wrong for the party to take a tolerant view of the criticism. We have traditionally turned a blind eye towards vilification of our leaders. (Sharad) Pawar Saheb, Supriya (Sule) Tai tell us to let go of such distractions while other parties such as the MNS and the RPI give a swift reaction,” said Kakade.

Ambekar, a tax consultant, was approached by an NCP worker posing as a business owner who needed tax advice. The man came to his office with about 20 people and allegedly slapped him after arguing with him. (Express Photo)

He rejected the allegation that the assault on Ambekar was “engineered” by him but confirmed that he had called BJP leaders Jagdish Mulik and Girish Bapat to convey his displeasure and requested them to get Ambekar’s post removed.

“I had called them and requested them that they should force Ambekar to remove the post and apologise. However, I had no knowledge of the assault,” said Kakade.

An officer from the Khadak police station said, “Based on Ambekar’s complaint, we have filed a non-cognisable offence against four NCP workers under Indian Penal Code Sections 323 (voluntarily causing hurt) and 504 (intentional insult with intent to provoke breach of the peace). No arrest has been made till now.” In the case of a non-cognisable offence, police require a court’s permission to make an arrest.

NCP officer-bearers had complained to the Vishrambag police against an allegedly defamatory post about Pawar. Asked about the complaint, an officer from the police station said, “The complaint submitted to us does not name anyone. We have launched an inquiry into it and we are also taking legal opinion.”