Before leading the march, Kulkarni had tweeted, “We will not allow 'namaz’ in Shaniwarwada, Hindu community has now become awakened...Chalo Shaniwarwada''
DAYS after she intervened and stopped a noisy Navratra event in Kothrud area of Pune city, BJP’s Rajya Sabha MP Medha Kulkarni on Sunday found herself at the eye of a storm after she marched inside the historical Shaniwarwada in Pune, along with activists from Hindu outfits, and “purified” a spot where some Muslim women visitors had offered namaz (prayers). Interestingly, Ajit Pawar-led NCP, along with the Congress and Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), condemned her, calling it an attempt to polarise voters ahead of the local civic body polls.
The protest march —organised by the Patit Pavan Sanghatna and other Hindu organisations on Sunday—was taken out after a video of some women offering ‘namaz’ on Friday at the Shaniwarwada went viral. Kulkarni led the protest and the ‘purification’ by cleaning the spot with ‘gaumutra’ (cow urine) and performing Shiv Vandana.
Before leading the march, Kulkarni had tweeted, “We will not allow ‘namaz’ in Shaniwarwada, Hindu community has now become awakened…Chalo Shaniwarwada.”
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Speaking to The Indian Express on Sunday evening, Kulkarni said, “We performed Shiv Vandana and did purification of the spot where the namaz was offered…To protest against the incident and to ensure that Pune’s social harmony is not disturbed, the Sakal Hindu Samaj organised a protest and demanded police action in this matter.”
Asked whether the spot had become “impure” after some Muslim women offered namaz, Kulkarni said, “Shaniwarwada is an ASI protected historical monument. It is a symbol of Hindavi Swaraj set up by Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj. We cannot allow anyone to offer namaz here. It is not a mosque.”
Flagging about an ‘illegal religious structure’ outside the Shaniwarwada, Kulkarni said if one wants to offer namaz in this manner, then Hindus should also be allowed to perform ‘aarti’ in masjids or in Taj Mahal.
Political parties, including Ajit Pawar-led NCP, strongly condemned Kulkarni and demanded action against her.
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“Some Muslim women offered prayers inside Shaniwarwada after which some BJP members went there and ‘purified’ the spot with cow urine. These people should remember that even Mastani had stayed in Shaniwarwada. Kulkarni probably is not aware that Peshwe ”sardars” removed the flag of Hindavi Swaraj atop the Shaniwarwada and hoisted the Union Jack,” said Sachin Sawant, senior spokesperson of the Maharashtra Congress.
Sawant said the BJP MP is also protesting against the ‘dargah’ outside Shaniwarwada. ”When the Peshwas had no problem, what is her problem ?…What will she do with the air that touches the ‘dargah’ and then reaches her…Is she going to purify her nose as well?” asked Sawant.
The Pune Congress said they will also soon hold a protest against the Rajya Sabha MP. ”Ahead of the civic elections, this is nothing but an attempt to polarise the Hindu voters. BJP raises such issues deliberately ahead of elections. BJP wants people to react to such issues and galvanise Hindu voters,” said Congress’s Pune president Arvind Shinde.
Shinde said as for the presence of ‘dargah,’ it has been there in front of Shaniwarwada for ages. ”It is in existence from the Peshwe period and the Archaeological Survey of India has given permission for it,” he said.
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Criticising Kulkarni, NCP’s working president Rupali Thombare said,”A police complaint should be filed against the Kulkarni for creating a rift between Hindus and Muslims and that too at the time of Diwali, disturbing the social atmosphere in Pune.. It is important that she be immediately restrained from indulging in such actions.”
AAP spokesperson Mukund Kirdat said, “This seems to be a clear attempt to polarise Hindu voters just ahead of local civic body polls. This action to create bitterness among communities, especially during a festival like Diwali, is condemnable.”
Manoj More has been working with the Indian Express since 1992. For the first 16 years, he worked on the desk, edited stories, made pages, wrote special stories and handled The Indian Express edition. In 31 years of his career, he has regularly written stories on a range of topics, primarily on civic issues like state of roads, choked drains, garbage problems, inadequate transport facilities and the like. He has also written aggressively on local gondaism. He has primarily written civic stories from Pimpri-Chinchwad, Khadki, Maval and some parts of Pune. He has also covered stories from Kolhapur, Satara, Solapur, Sangli, Ahmednagar and Latur. He has had maximum impact stories from Pimpri-Chinchwad industrial city which he has covered extensively for the last three decades.
Manoj More has written over 20,000 stories. 10,000 of which are byline stories. Most of the stories pertain to civic issues and political ones. The biggest achievement of his career is getting a nearly two kilometre road done on Pune-Mumbai highway in Khadki in 2006. He wrote stories on the state of roads since 1997. In 10 years, nearly 200 two-wheeler riders had died in accidents due to the pathetic state of the road. The local cantonment board could not get the road redone as it lacked funds. The then PMC commissioner Pravin Pardeshi took the initiative, went out of his way and made the Khadki road by spending Rs 23 crore from JNNURM Funds. In the next 10 years after the road was made by the PMC, less than 10 citizens had died, effectively saving more than 100 lives.
Manoj More's campaign against tree cutting on Pune-Mumbai highway in 1999 and Pune-Nashik highway in 2004 saved 2000 trees.
During Covid, over 50 doctors were asked to pay Rs 30 lakh each for getting a job with PCMC. The PCMC administration alerted Manoj More who did a story on the subject, asking then corporators how much money they demanded....The story worked as doctors got the job without paying a single paisa.
Manoj More has also covered the "Latur drought" situation in 2015 when a "Latur water train" created quite a buzz in Maharashtra. He also covered the Malin tragedy where over 150 villagers had died.
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