Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) MLA Jitendra Awhad was arrested by Vartak Nagar police in Thane on Friday for stopping the show of a Marathi film titled ‘Har Har Mahadev’. On Tuesday, the police had registered a case against Awhad and his supporters for disrupting the screening of the movie on November 7. Jitendra Awhad is the former housing minister in the state.
NCP workers intervened and stopped the show of this film at around 10 pm on Monday 7th November 2022 in the Viviana Mall that comes under the Vartak Nagar police station of Thane in Maharashtra. The case was registered after a complaint was filed by a Thane businessman who was watching the movie with his wife when Awhad and his supporters barged into the multiplex and stopped the screening. The businessman also alleged that he was thrashed by Awhad’s supporters when he demanded that they refund the price of the tickets they bought for the movie. The man further said that the NCP workers harassed his wife also.
Jitendra Awhad has welcomed the arrest and says that he does not feel like asking for bail and that he thinks that he is serving Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj by opposing this film. Alleging that the film based on the life of Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj was distorting history, the NCP workers appealed to the audience to go out of the cinema hall. After this, there were incidents of controversy after NCP workers beat up the audience sitting in the cinema hall. One of the spectators was also injured in this attack. In this case, NCP leaders Anand Paranjape, and Jitendra Awhad, were called to the police station, and later Jitendra Awhad was arrested.
Jitendra Awhad interacted with the ABP Majha news channel before getting arrested. He said, “I was called to the police station. They were sending me a notice. Instead, I showed my goodness and said that I will collect it myself. I also need to go to Mumbai thereafter. So I came to the police station. I was having tea at the Vartak Nagar police station when DCP Rathod came. I don’t think that he is wrong. His face told me that he is helpless. He said, Saheb, we have to arrest you.”
Jitendra Awhad further said, “Har Har Mahadev is a film in which the history is distorted. It is defamation of Shivaji Maharaj and the whole Maratha community. If this action is being taken against me for raising an objection to such a film, then I am very happy as a student of the history of Shivaji Maharaj to see that this government is stopping me from telling the true history to the people. To whom does this state belong? To those who defame Shivaji Maharaj or to Shivaji Maharaj? If I am to be arrested for opposing such a film that shows distorted history, then I will go and sit in jail on my own. I will not even accept any bail.”
आज दुपारी साधारण 1 वाजता मला वर्तकनगर पोलीस स्टेशनचे वरिष्ठ पोलीस निरीक्षक श्री. निकम यांचा फोन आला आणि नोटीस घेण्यासाठी मी माणूस पाठवतो नाहीतर तुम्ही पोलीस स्टेशनला या असे ते म्हणाले. मी मुंबईला जायला निघालो होतो. मी म्हटलं कि, मी पोलीस स्टेशनला येतो आणि नंतर मी मुंबईला जातो.
— Dr.Jitendra Awhad (@Awhadspeaks) November 11, 2022
Jitendra Awhad added, “This government is just using police power. We did not pelt stones. Whatever incidents took place they happened amongst the workers and people. I don’t condemn this arrest. Instead, I welcome this arrest so that the state knows the police raj going on in Maharashtra.”
मी पोलीस स्टेशनला गेलो असताना त्यांनी मला गप्पांमध्ये गुंतवून ठेवलं. त्यानंतर डीसीपी राठोड हे पोलीस स्टेशनला आले. त्यांच्या डोळ्यांत आणि चेह-यावरती अस्वस्थपणा दिसत होता. हतबलता दिसत होती. ते आदराने म्हणाले कि, मी काही करु शकत नाही. वरुन आदेश आले आहेत. तुम्हांला अटक करावी लागेल.
— Dr.Jitendra Awhad (@Awhadspeaks) November 11, 2022
When particularly asked if he will try for bail, Jitendra Awhad said, “No. Not at all. What difference does it make if I am arrested? I will have food and stay in jail instead of doing the same at my home. I will not ask for bail. All the sections in the original FIR are bailable. They have taken efforts to locate a section to trap me. See how the conspiracy is being cooked by this government. The police are helpless. There are no police in Thane. Every police station in Thane will now have a board of Shiv Sena (Balasaheb Thackeray) very soon. Silencing the voices of opposition is not tolerated in Maharashtra.” Jitendra Awhad also mentioned the same things in his tweets.
हा पोलीसी बळाचा गैरवापर आहे. आता मी लढायला तयार आहे. फाशी दिली तरी चालेल. पण, मी जे केलेलं नाही तो मी गुन्हा कबूल करणार नाही.
— Dr.Jitendra Awhad (@Awhadspeaks) November 11, 2022
He tweeted, “This is an abuse of the police force. Now I’m ready to fight. Even if you hang me, I will not admit to the crime of what I have not done.”
The controversy around Har Har Mahadev and Jitendra Awhad
Director Abhijit Deshpande made the film ‘Har Har Mahadev’ in which actors Subodh Bhave and Sharad Kelkar play Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj and Baji Prabhu Deshpande respectively. The film is based on the battle of Pawankhind. In the film it is shown that in the initial phases of establishing the Hindavi Swarajya, Baji Prabhu Deshpande was not accompanying Shivaji Maharaj, instead, he was against him as he worked as a sell-sword fighter besides heading the private armies of Jedhe and Bandal – the commanders who later joined the Swarajya movement with Shivaji Maharaj.
In this film, it is shown that Baji Prabhu Deshpande opposes Shivaji Maharaj so much that he even asks someone for better weapons to kill Shivaji Maharaj. It is during a fight that Shivaji Maharaj tells him how the internal fights among Marathas have eased the persecution of Hindus by Islamist tyrants. As Shivaji Maharaj calls for uniting all the Marathas, Baji Prabhu Deshpande joins the Swarajya movement and makes the supreme sacrifice for the Hindu king in the rearguard battle of Pawankhind in a successful attempt to save Shivaji Maharaj.
Former minister Jitendra Awhad and some other NCP leaders in Maharashtra claim that this is a distortion of history and that Jedhes, Bandals, and Baji Prabhu Deshpande were never against Shivaji Maharaj. Moreover, Jitendra Awhad has said that the current wave of making films on the events in the life of Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj is based on history as told by Babasaheb Purandare.
Jitendra Awhad is known for opposing Padma Vibhushan Babasaheb Purandare from every possible stage. It is notable that the allegations often made by the likes of Jitendra Awhad, Shrimant Kokate, Sambhaji Brigade members, and others against Babasaheb Purandare are more of so-called unnecessary Hindufication of the ‘secular’ king Shivaji Maharaj by visualizing him and his actions through a Brahminical lens. Sharad Pawar – who once praised Babasaheb Purandare for his dedication to the historical research and contribution to the life and works of Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj – is also seen criticizing the late Hindu intellectual researcher in the recent past.
