PANAJI
Members of the Congress marched to the Panaji Police Station on Friday evening to file an FIR against state BJP President and Rajya Sabha member Vinay Tendulkar.
Handing over the written complaint to PI Siddhant Shirodkar, the party members urged him to investigate what Tendulkar meant when he said in public on June 26 that Congress President Girish Chodankar would be given “prasad.”
Congressmen suggested it was a threat of physical harm to Chodankar by Tendulkar. In a public meeting held on June 26 at Menezes Braganza hall, in the presence of the BJP National General Secretary Murlidhar Rao, South Goa MP Narendra Sawaikar and North Goa MP Shripad Naik, Tendulkar had said that Chodankar would be given “prasad.”
Members of the Congress said that they feared Tendulkar would follow through with the threat, and that the BJP had a history of beating up people who speak up. The video of Tendulkar saying this is in wide circulation.
MLA Reginaldo Lourenco said the language used cannot be tolerated in a democracy, while PI Shirodkar pointed out that in a democracy, everyone had the liberty to speak what was on their mind. However, Congressman Amarnath Panjikar insisted that Tendulkar be brought to the Police Station and be asked to deny that his comment meant any harm to Chodankar.
The letter submitted to the PI stated that Tendulkar was committing an offence under Sections 351 (Assault), and 503 (Criminal Intimidation) as well as Section 504 (Breach of Peace), Section 505 (Public Mischief), and Section 120 B (Criminal Conspiracy) of the Indian Penal Code.
Congressmen also reminded the PI that when Chodankar was President of Youth Congress, Tendulkar had assaulted him which was why they were taking Tendulkar’s threat seriously.
