MUMBAI — Maharashtra Congress president Harshwardhan Sapkal on Monday announced that the party opposes the Maharashtra Special Public Security (MSPS) Act, saying that it will organise its symbolic burnings in every district.
At a press conference, Sapkal further stated that the very intent behind the Maharashtra Special Public Security Act is sinister.
“The only beneficiaries of this law will be the government and the industrialists who support it. Those who have grabbed land and want red-carpet access to the Shaktipeeth corridor are the ones who will benefit,” he said.
He pointed out that environmentalists and tribals in Gadchiroli, slum dwellers and farmers opposing the Shaktipeeth project – if they resist – will be jailed and have their properties seized.
“The underlying message is clear: either praise the government or remain silent; if you raise your voice in protest, the hammer of the Act will be used to silence you,” he said.
He asked whether it is Maoism to espouse constitutional values, or to spread the thoughts of Shivaji, Shahu, Phule, and Ambedkar?
“Is it Maoism to promote the ideologies of Mahatma Gandhi and Tukdoji Maharaj? Devendra Fadnavis must clarify. If these are Maoist ideas, then I will continue to express them, and if Fadnavis wants to arrest me for that, he’s welcome to do so.”
Sapkal also pointed out that if Fadnavis believes that leftist ideology is poisonous, then we will expose what poison is being spread in RSS shakhas.
“Narendra Dabholkar, who worked his entire life to eradicate superstition, was murdered. Comrade Govind Pansare and Kalburgi, who enlightened the masses through their writings, were also killed. The same forces behind those murders are also behind the attack on Sambhaji Brigade’s Pravin Gaikwad,” claimed Sapkal.
Earlier, Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis in the state assembly last week said that the Act is not against a party pursuing left ideology.
“It is not against left parties to function. The Act has nothing to do with left parties like CPI and CPM, and the government respects their leaders,” he claimed.
He also claimed that the Act is not against individuals but against the organisation, saying that organisations representing farmers and others have the right to organise morchas, and they will not attract action under the Act. –IANS
