Day after purifying namaz ‘spot’ in Pune’s Shaniwadwada, clamour grows for BJP MP Medha Kulkarni’s resignation

Accusing BJP’s Rajya Sabha MP Medha Kulkarni of indulging in hatemongering on the auspicious occasion of Diwali, Opposition parties and social activists have been demanding her resignation, a day after she ‘purified’ the spot in Pune’s Shaniwadwada where ‘namaz’ was offered by some Muslims visitors.

“At a time when farmers in Marathawada have been hit hard by floods and there’s a need to help them tide over this crisis, Kulkarni is trying to divert the attention of the people by indulging in hatemongering,” said Maharashtra Congress chief spokesperson Atul Londhe.

On Sunday, Kulkarni led a morcha of Hindutva activists to Shaniwarwada and ‘purified’ the spot with cow urine where some Muslims had offered namaz.

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Kulkarni had said,”If the Muslims are offering namaz inside a historical place like Shaniwarwada, then Hindus should also be allowed to perform ”aarti” in mosques.”

“Farmer families have no money to celebrate Diwali. The state government has stopped Anandacha Shide welfare scheme. The farmers are not getting any help…When Hindus celebrate Diwali, they distribute joy among their brethren but the MP is distributing hate. A people’s representative is expected to fight for the people and not against their interest,” said Londhe pressing for her resignation.

AAP spokesperson Mukund Kirdat said,”It seems whatever Kulkarni did was to impresses her bosses in Delhi. If she wants to indulge in anti-people activites, then she should better resign and work for Sakal Hindu Samaj. An MP represents all sections of the party in Parliament. She seems to have forgotten her responsbility.”

Social activist Manav Kamble, who heads the Nagarik Haqq Suraksha Samaiti, said,”Medha Kulkarni went to Shaniwarwda and purified the spot where ”namaz.” I want to tell her that Bajirao Peshwe used to bring Mastani in Shaniwarwada. If we read the history books, Mastani, a Muslim woman, used stay in Shaniwarwada. Then, will Medha Kulkarni purify the entire Shaniwarwada ? Actually, Kulkarni does not deserve to be the Rajya Sabha MP. She has done a highly condemnable act. She won’t resign on her own, Puneites will have to force her to resign.”

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Activist Vishwambhar Choudhari said,”Puneites are hassled by traffic jams, piled up garbage, rising crime and gangwar…But BJP MP Medha Kulkarni is trying to ”purify” Shaniwarwada. She is searching for ”green” colour in some corner and cover it with saffron colour. This is her favourite achievement. Even her party colleague, Lok Sabha MP Murlidhar Mohol is busy helping builders get prime piece of and.”

Manoj More has been working with the Indian Express since 1992. For the first 16 years, he worked on the desk, edited stories, made pages, wrote special stories and handled The Indian Express edition. In 31 years of his career, he has regularly written stories on a range of topics, primarily on civic issues like state of roads, choked drains, garbage problems, inadequate transport facilities and the like. He has also written aggressively on local gondaism. He has primarily written civic stories from Pimpri-Chinchwad, Khadki, Maval and some parts of Pune. He has also covered stories from Kolhapur, Satara, Solapur, Sangli, Ahmednagar and Latur. He has had maximum impact stories from Pimpri-Chinchwad industrial city which he has covered extensively for the last three decades.

Manoj More has written over 20,000 stories. 10,000 of which are byline stories. Most of the stories pertain to civic issues and political ones. The biggest achievement of his career is getting a nearly two kilometre road done on Pune-Mumbai highway in Khadki in 2006. He wrote stories on the state of roads since 1997. In 10 years, nearly 200 two-wheeler riders had died in accidents due to the pathetic state of the road. The local cantonment board could not get the road redone as it lacked funds. The then PMC commissioner Pravin Pardeshi took the initiative, went out of his way and made the Khadki road by spending Rs 23 crore from JNNURM Funds. In the next 10 years after the road was made by the PMC, less than 10 citizens had died, effectively saving more than 100 lives.

Manoj More’s campaign against tree cutting on Pune-Mumbai highway in 1999 and Pune-Nashik highway in 2004 saved 2000 trees.

During Covid, over 50 doctors were asked to pay Rs 30 lakh each for getting a job with PCMC. The PCMC administration alerted Manoj More who did a story on the subject, asking then corporators how much money they demanded….The story worked as doctors got the job without paying a single paisa.

Manoj More has also covered the “Latur drought” situation in 2015 when a “Latur water train” created quite a buzz in Maharashtra. He also covered the Malin tragedy where over 150 villagers had died.

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