MARGAO
The communally sensitive Rumdamol Housing Board resembled a garrison town as the Goa Police mobilised massive force in strength for deploying in the housing board on Thursday evening as the Hindutva activist from Maharashtra Sambaji Bhide visited the area to address a gathering.
If sources are to be believed, the Goa Police mobilised its entire force from South Goa and deployed teams at the sensitive areas in the housing board. The force was withdrawn only after Sambaji Bhide left the area after addressing a gathering at the Samarthgad Temple.
Sambaji Bhide was welcomed by the organisers at the Arlem junction, from where they proceeded towards the Housing Board after making a halt at the Maruti Temple.
Sub-Divisional Police Officer, Margao DySP Santosh Desai said the visit of Sambaji Bhide passed off peacefully without any incident. “The organisers had intimated the police that they would receive Bhide at the Arlem Junction. There was no procession taken out in the housing board. The situation was peaceful,” he said, while saying that the police had mobilised massive police force as a precautionary measure.
Known for making inflammatory speeches, the Congress party had earlier this week requested Chief Minister Pramod Sawant to ban Sambaji Bhide’s visit to Goa in view of the recent incidents reported in the State over Shivaji Maharaj.
The Goa Police also treaded a cautious path over Bhide’s visited to the temple at the Rumdamol Housing Board given that the area has a history of communal tensions. In fact, the Housing Board had witnessed violence around mid-June between two communities over an attack on BJP-backed panchayat member and the damage caused to a madrassa and a couple of beef stalls.
