Sapkal says BJP must answer youth's real questions, will not back down despite cases

Mumbai: Maharashtra Congress president Harshwardhan Sapkal has said there is deep anger among young people, who call the BJP governments at the Centre and in the state corrupt and the Election Commission's functioning biased. According to him, the protest at Shivaji Park has given voice to this anger.

Sapkal alleged that the government has registered false cases against the protesters to suppress this anger against the Modi government. He warned the BJP government that, however many cases it files, these young people will not step back now.

Speaking to the media at Tilak Bhavan, Sapkal said the country's democracy and Constitution are in danger and that young people have taken to the streets to save them. He said the questions these young people have raised are burning questions facing the country.

Sapkal said the BJP should answer why Gyanesh Kumar does not respond to the allegations made by two Election Commissioners. He said the same old chant of Hindu-Muslim and India-Pakistan should be stopped to avoid the real issue. In Sapkal's words, if the government tries to suppress voices through repression, the BJP government will have to pay a heavy price.

Sapkal said that along with the Shivaji Park protest, a long march of tribal students has set out from Nashik towards Mumbai, and lakhs of young students have taken to the streets in Pune against the MPSC. According to him, these three events expose the BJP government's poor functioning.

Students are demanding the removal of the MPSC chairman. Sapkal said the Chief Minister is nevertheless brushing the demand aside because the chairman, Bhimanwar, is a close aide of Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis. Sapkal said Fadnavis should behave like a Chief Minister and not adopt a "not me" attitude.

On the state's drought, Sapkal said he understood that Prime Minister Narendra Modi is visiting Baramati on November 3. He said the state is facing a severe drought and farmers are in distress. Sapkal expressed hope that the Prime Minister would bring a big package for farmers when he comes to Maharashtra and give them Rs 1 lakh per hectare.

Asked about the Legislative Council elections, Sapkal said there is no discontent in the Maha Vikas Aghadi. According to him, the Congress holds 2 of the 5 seats through sitting MLAs, whom the party has fielded again. In Amravati the Congress has announced its candidate, and talks are on for the other two seats.

Sapkal said the election is for the graduates' and teachers' constituencies. He said the allies are one, their roles will complement each other and there is no hitch. A meeting is being held to broaden the coordination further.

The family of IIT Bombay student Sahil Wakode, who died by suicide, driven to despair by caste-based harassment, met Maharashtra Congress in-charge Dr Sirivella Prasad and state president Harshwardhan Sapkal at Shanta Ashram and spoke with them. Present on the occasion were All India Congress Committee secretaries B M Sandeep, Rehana Chishti and U B Venkatesh, Mumbai Congress president and MP Varsha Gaikwad, Mumbai Youth Congress president Zeenat Shabreen and state Congress training department head Ashutosh Shirke, among others.