''I Don't Recognize Extreme Right Or Extreme Left'' Says Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis

Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis said on Saturday, October 6 his government will "crush" those who act against the Constitution irrespective of their political or ideological leanings. Speaking at the Hindustan Times Leadership Summit, Fadnavis said he does not recognize "extreme left or extreme right".

"The person, or individual, or institution which is acting against Constitution, I am bound to act against them. They may belong to any class, may belong to any caste...any religion, any institution, they may have any leaning but I am going crush them," Fadnavis said.

"That is my raj dharma. That is what I am doing. I don't recognize extreme right or extreme left," he told a gathering of business leaders, diplomats, political leaders and commentators at the summit.

READ: Work To Provide Forest Land To Maharashtra Tribals Will Be Over By December: CM Devendra Fadnavis

His government was at the Centre of a political row after the Maharashtra police raided the homes of prominent Left-wing activists and arrested five of them for suspected Maoist links on August 28.

The arrest of the activists, who were termed "urban Naxals", had sparked outraged protests from human rights defenders. Critics of the government insisted that the five were punished for their views critical of the dispensation.

The police raids were carried out as part of a probe into the violence between Dalits and the upper caste Peshwas at Koregaon-Bhima village near Pune after an event called Elgar Parishad, or conclave, on December 31 last year. 

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"There are some people who want to pitch two communities against each other so that a situation like civil war is created...not just Bhima Koregaon they are in touch with Naxals in Chhattisgarh and other places...they are plotting several things.

"It's a much larger conspiracy that we have unearthed. So many pseudo-liberals came together and went to the SC and still the court ruled in our favour," he said