Police deny permission for Elgaar Parishad, organisers to hold it on Jan 30

After Pune police refused to grant permission to hold a meet to commemorate the battle for Koregaon Bhima on its 203rd anniversary on Thursday (December 31), the organisers of Elgaar Parishad have said they will hold the event in Pune on January 30. They warned that if they are denied permission again, they will hold the conference on the streets.

This year, the organisers had decided to organise the Elgaar Parishad conference on Thursday, a day before the 203rd anniversary of the battle of Bhima Koregaon that falls on January 1. The Pune city police, however, denied permission citing COVID-19 and law and order problems.

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Addressing a press conference in Pune on Thursday, retired High Court judge B G Kolse Patil, who is one of the conveners of the conference, said, “Since we could not hold the Parishad as planned on December 31, we will now organise it on January 30 at Ganesh Kala Krida Kendra Manch auditorium in Pune. And if we are not allowed to hold the conference there, we will hold it on the streets.”

The event at Ganesh Kala Krida Manch is expected to be held from 11 am to 10 pm and will be addressed by a large number of social activists and leaders from across the country.

On December 31 in 2017, during the conference in Pune’s Shaniwar Wada, violence broke out in the Koregaon Bhima area in which one person was killed and several others injured. The subsequent police action saw the arrests of Elgaar Parishad organiser Sudhir Dawale as well as several activists, including Sudha Bhardwaj, Gautam Navalakha, Varavara Rao and Stan Swamy, for alleged links with the banned CPI-Maoist.