The incident of beating of women office bearers of NCP by Pune BJP office bearers at Balgandharva is a disgrace to the political culture of Pune city. Activists of all political parties in Pune staged a silent protest in front of the statue of the Queen of Jhansi.
The city of Pune, considered as the cultural and educational capital of the country, also has an ideal culture of political parties and political leaders. In the last several years, there have been many incidents of misconduct among political parties in the state and other cities of the country, but no political party has ever gone so far as to raise its hand against a female sister, no matter how much the political activists in Pune have been upholding an ideal code of conduct. But two days ago, four to five Pune BJP workers literally beat up the women sisters of the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) who had gone to Balgandharv to deliver their speeches at Union Minister Smriti Irani's program. This incident is very unfortunate and it is a disgrace to the political culture of Pune, said the NCP office bearers.
Speaking on the occasion, NCP city president Shri Prashant Jagtap said, "The NCP has laid down a code of conduct for the workers on how to behave in any movement. Respected Pawar Saheb has given us such teachings. However, the beating of our female sisters is highly reprehensible and I strongly condemn this incident. This action will send a message to the activists of all political parties that no one will dare to commit such an act again."
BJP's Devendra Fadnavis and Chandrakant Patil also expressed a simple apology for such misconduct by Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) workers. According to Fadnavis, it is indecent for the state president of a party like BJP, Chandrakant Patil, to utter such language.