Congress leader and former Maharashtra minister Nitin Raut objected to the alleged threat by a right wing organisation about breaking the victory memorial at Koregaon Bhima in Pune district on January 1, and said if it tries to anything of that sort, it will get a befitting reply.
Speaking to reporters at the Vidhan Bhavan complex here, Raut claimed, Karni Sena has warned that they will break the ‘Vijay Stambh’ at Koregaon Bhima on the Shaurya Divas, celebrated on January 1 every year. Maharashtra is a peaceful state and this type of threat and provocation by some organisation is not good. The people of Maharashtra will not tolerate this, he said.
The organisation is provoking the Bhim devotees and trying to create a rift in the society. If they try to do something they will get a befitting reply, he said.
In the Dalit narrative, the 1818 battle of Koregaon Bhima is the victory over casteism as the British Army comprising a large contingent of Dalit Mahar soldiers had defeated the forces of Peshwas, the Brahmin custodians of the Maratha kingdom.