Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader and ‘Dhangar’ community face of the party Gopichand Padalkar has accused Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) chief Sharad Pawar of breaking up the Republican Party of India, which was formed by Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar.“Pawar is responsible for not allowing any movement take place in the state. He broke the Republican Party of India, a political party formed by none other than Dr B.R. Ambedkar. He then targeted the ‘Dhangar agitation’, which was gaining good momentum in the past. Even today, the Dhangar community is struggling for reservation. That’s why we all should come together and fight this mindset. That is the aim of this ‘Dhangar Jagar Yatra’," said Padalkar in Vizori village of Solapur.
Padalkar is conducting rallies across Maharashtra for reservation for the ‘Dhangar’ community. In each of his speeches at these rallies, Padalkar has been targeting the Pawar family.“Everyone knows who is that ‘wolf’ due to whom the Dhangar community got the status of Nomadic Tribe (NT), instead of Schedule Tribe (ST)," said Padalkar.Further, he also asked the community people to “rebel against the ‘STD’ – is Saheb, Tai and Dada who are suppressing you". NCP party workers call Sharad Pawar as saheb, Supriya Sule as tai (sister) and Ajit Pawar as dada (brother)
Padalkar also compared the Pawar family with the British and asked the Dhangar community not to get pressured by one family. “If you want reservation for your community, you need to unite and challenge these established politicians who are against our community. Ask them questions," said Padalkar.The issue of reservation for the ‘Dhangar’ community is in the Bombay high court. Recently, after Padalkar gave an ultimatum to his own government, Chief Minister Eknath Shinde called a meeting and assured the community that their issues would be resolved as early as possible.