Bhima-Koregaon Battle anniversary: Subdued occasion at Jaystambh, state ministers pay respects

The occasions to mark the 203rd anniversary of Battle of Bhima-Koregaon started on the Jaystambh at Pune’s Perne village from the early hours of the New Year on Friday.
Ambedkarite organisations and the district administration had urged individuals to pay respects staying at dwelling on the backdrop of the Covid-19 pandemic. The ceremonies on Friday started with monks performing Buddha Vandana and Dhamma Desana prayers on the Jaystambh. Members of Samata Sena and retired personnel from Mahar Regiment of the Army performed a drill with a band.
Maharashtra ministers Ajit Pawar, Anil Deshmukh and Nitin Raut have been amongst those that paid their respects on the Jaystambh. The representatives of assorted Ambedkarite organisations shall be paying their respects within the slots allotted to them until afternoon.
The occasion witnessed large police power deployed for sustaining regulation and order state of affairs. (Express Photo by Ashish Kale)
On the backdrop of the pandemic, Collector Rajesh Deshmukh has earlier issued a prohibitory order beneath Section 144 of the Criminal Procedure Code (CrPC), 1973 which prohibits individuals from outdoors from visiting the Jaystambh between December 30, 2020 and 6 am on January 2, 2021. Exemptions have been made for these issued passes for conducting numerous ceremonies as a part of a symbolic programme on the monument. The prohibitory orders are additionally in power in opposition to spreading misinformation and rumours on social media platforms concerning the Jaystambh in Perne village and numerous ceremonies happening there on January 1.
As a precautionary measure, the Pune District Administration barred Hindutva activist Milind Ekbote, some Elgaar Parishad organisers together with Kabir Kala Manch (KKM) members, Dalit activists and several other different locals from Bhima-Koregaon space from getting into or being current within the limits of the district for over three days across the 203rd anniversary of the battle.
In the view of COVID 19, solely those that have gotten passes from police are allowed to go to Jaystambh at Perne village for marking the anniversary of battle of Koregaon Bhima. (Express photograph by Ashish Kale)
It will be recalled that the Bhima Koregaon Shaurya Din Prerna Abhiyaan had organised the Elgaar Parishad at Shaniwar Wada in Pune on December 31, 2017. Next day, on January 1, 2018, the two hundredth anniversary of the battle, violence was reported within the space leaving at the least one particular person useless and several other others injured. Pune Police have claimed that ‘provocative’ speeches on the convention have been among the many elements that led to the violence, and arrested a number of human rights activists from throughout India in reference to the case.

The Elgaar Parishad case, at the moment being investigated by the National Investigation Agency, has until now led to the arrests of organiser Sudhir Dawale and several other activists together with Sudha Bhardwaj, Gautam Navlakha, Varavara Rao and Stan Swamy, over their alleged hyperlinks with the banned CPI-Maoist.