ABVP activists raising fee waiver demand beaten in Dhule; BJP asks Maha Minister to resign

In a shocking development on Wednesday, ABVP activists who tried to stop the car of Maharashtra Minister Abdul Sattar in Dhule were beaten by the police. ABVP was seeking the fees of college students to be waived off because of the COVID-19 crisis. This incident took place near the district collectorate when Sattar was visiting the office.

Six persons were reportedly detained by the police. Maintaining that he was ready to talk to the ABVP activists, the Shiv Sena MLA claimed that they were not wearing masks. At the same time, Sattar assured that there will be a probe if the police beat the activists in an unreasonable manner. 

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Strong condemnation

Condemning the use of force against the ABVP activists, former Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis opined that the Minister should have discussed the issues raised by the students. He urged the MVA government to take strict action against the high handedness of the police. On the other hand, ABVP alleged that the Maharashtra government ordered the police to punch the protesting students. Describing this as "fascism", the student organization stated that its resolve had only grown stronger. 

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Demand for resignation

Issuing a strong condemnation of the incident, Maharashtra BJP chief Chandrakant Patil urged Sattar to own up responsibility for the police action and resign as a Minister. He asked Maharashtra CM Uddhav Thackeray to ensure that all arrested students should be unconditionally released and their demands should be heard. According to him, Sattar had refused to meet the students associated with ABVP for two days in a row.

Patil accused the Maharashtra government of only pretending to espouse the cause of the students during the coronavirus-induced-lockdown. Currently, there are 7,18,711 confirmed novel coronavirus cases in the state out of which 5,22,427 patients have recovered. At present, there are 1,72,873 active cases in Maharashtra. 

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