Opposition party protests as hundreds gather to welcome Modi in Pune

Even as Prime Minister Narendra Modi landed in Pune on Tuesday, various political parties and social organisations protested his ‘silence’ over the conflict raging in Manipur. The recently formed opposition coalition, INDIA, raised black flags in front of Modi before the police detained some of its leaders.

Members of opposition parties including the Congress, Nationalist Congress Party (Sharad Pawar faction), Shiv Sena (Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray) and left-wing parties raised black flags in the Mandai area in central Pune. The police had asked all the protesters to stage peaceful agitations in the Mandai area to avoid traffic jams during Modi’s visit to Pune.

At the same time, social activist Baba Adhav, led an agitation by various social outfits which saw participation from residents of Pune hailing from Manipur. “At a time when Manipur is burning, our Prime Minister is silent and has chosen not to visit the conflict-torn state. Our attempt through this agitation is to force the Prime Minister to speak on Manipur and make efforts to restore peace there,” said Adhav.

Pune witnessed conflicting scenes as social organisations and opposition parties staged protests in the Mandai area even as Modi offered prayers at the Dagdusheth Halwai temple a few metres away amidst hundreds of citizens who had gathered to welcome him. And, local leaders of the NCP (Sharad Pawar faction) participated in the protests even as their chief, Sharad Pawar, shared the dais with Modi at the Lokmanya Tilak Awards.

Deputy chief minister Ajit Pawar, who was also present at the awards ceremony, said, “No black flags were raised before the Prime Minister when he reached the venue from the airport. Instead, what we saw was citizens cheering Modi, who is very popular.”

On their part, the police did not permit people to wear black-coloured clothes/raincoats or carry black-coloured umbrellas, bags and handkerchiefs inside venues that the Prime Minister was scheduled to visit. A police officer on condition of anonymity said, “We had received instructions not to allow citizens to wear black clothes and we followed them.”

Ritesh Doshi, who wanted to attend the event at Shivajinagar where Modi inaugurated extended routes of the metro, said, “Being a student, I wanted to attend the public rally. I was eager to see VIPs including the Prime Minister but unfortunately, I was wearing a black tee shirt and the police asked me to change. I stay faraway and it was impossible to change clothes.”

Ratnakar Wani, a citizen, said, “As it was raining, I had carried a black raincoat and cap. But the police took objection to the same. As I was eager to attend, they asked me to keep these items at the gate. I wasn’t sure I would get back my possessions at the end of the programme but I took the chance anyway.”