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This is an archive article published on November 22, 2023

Fadnavis hails self-styled Godman, Oppn says BJP needs ‘babas’ to divide people on caste lines during polls

Fadnavis, accompanied by cabinet colleague Chandrakant Patil, visited Sangamwadi area where Shastri is 'holding court'. Fadnavis wasted no time in bowing before Shastri to seek blessings.

Devendra FadnavisMaharashtra Deputy CM Devendra Fadnavis. (File)
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Fadnavis hails self-styled Godman, Oppn says BJP needs ‘babas’ to divide people on caste lines during polls
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DEPUTY Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis today met self-styled godman Acharya Dhirendra Shastri, better known as Bageshwar Dham Sarkar, at his ‘durbar’ and sought blessings by touching his feet. While Fadnavis eulogised Shastri, lauding his work to protect Sanatan Dharma, Opposition parties—NCP and Sena (UBT)— said Fadnavis and BJP needed ”such babas who divide people based on caste.”

Fadnavis, accompanied by cabinet colleague Chandrakant Patil, visited Sangamwadi area where Shastri is ‘holding court’. Fadnavis wasted no time in bowing before Shastri to seek blessings.

Shastri said that those who are “Ram bhakts belong to everyone. I am not praising Fadnavis because he is the Deputy CM but because he is a Ram bhakt.”

Not to be outdone, Fadnavis returned the compliments by praising Shastri’s work towards awareness about Sanatan Dharma. “Some people are spreading misinformation. They say Sanatan means rigid customs and casteism. They don’t understand the real meaning. Sanatan means eternal, one which will not end. And this is the tenet of Bharat which ties everyone together, with no upper or lower class…”

“Bageshwar baba is creating awareness about Santan Dharma as per which we are all children of God. If India is awakened, the world will awaken. Pune residents are fortunate to have baba admist them,” Fadnavis added.

NCP leader Jitendra Ahwad, from Sharad Pawar faction, said that during every election, they (BJP) need a baba. “Unfortunately, wherein Maharashtra has a tradition of saints with a progressive mindset, BJP needs babas who believe in castiesm. Shastri is not a saint, but BJP is projecting him as one.”

Sena (UBT) spokesperson Sanjay Raut slammed Fadnavis over his lack of judgment. “Before bowing to Shastri, Fadnavis should have given a thought to Shastri’s objectionable statements against Sant Tukaram, Lord Ram and his father Dashrath. Let Fadnavis go by his Hindutva, we will practice ours.”

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Independent MLA Bachchu Kadu said that Maharashtra seemed to be moving on a different path these days. “Fadnavis may be in awe of Shastri. It is his individual decision,” Kadu said.

Earlier, Ajit-led NCP and Maharashtra Andhashradha Nirmolan Samiti had opposed Shastri’s event which is being held in Sangamwadi area.

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.     Manoj More is on Facebook with 4.9k followers (Manoj More), on twitter manojmore91982 ... Read More


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