Namdev Jadhav attacked, face blackened

Pune: Angry workers of the Nationalist Congress Party on Saturday attacked Namdev Jadhav and blackened his face. Jadhav had presented the certificate declaring him as OBC caste to NCP chief Sharad Pawar.

Jadhav had come to attend a meeting in an auditorium here. Then a large group of activists surrounded him and one of them smeared ink on his face, while a police constable ran to save him from the attack.

Jadhav, once said to be a close associate of the NCP and its top leaders, has become a harsh critic of the party and its leadership. Recently, he had created a controversy by showing an alleged certificate printed in English giving the OBC caste tag to Maratha Sharad Pawar.

In fact, during the Diwali get-together in his hometown Baramati on November 14, Sharad Pawar had clarified the situation by rejecting the alleged OBC certificate. He had said that the document issued by his old school was genuine, in which his caste was mentioned as ‘Maratha’ and he had never hidden this fact.

After being roughed up by NCP workers, an angry Jadhav threatened to lodge a complaint with the police, with the first accused being Sharad Pawar and the second being his grandson and NCP (SP) MLA Rohit Pawar.

Indirectly supporting the incident, NCP general secretary Jitendra Awhad said in Mumbai that if some person (Jadhav) continues to make such false claims, Sharad Pawar’s loyal supporters are bound to get agitated.

Criticizing Jadhav’s comments, Pune NCP (SP) chief Prashant Jagtap said he takes full responsibility for Saturday’s abuse episode, and warned that Jadhav should not blame anyone else without any basis.

Local NCP workers termed Jadhav as a ‘pappy’ of some vested elements who was unnecessarily dragging Sharad Pawar, Rohit Pawar and other leaders into the caste controversy to defame him.

Meanwhile, a Pune Police official told media persons that an FIR was being registered in the Jadhav case.

–IANS