On 9th December 2022, Nationalist Congress Party leader Amol Mitkari insulted Hindu deities and rituals in the guise of criticizing PM Modi and the BJP rule while addressing a public meeting at Bakshi Hipparaga village near Solapur in Maharashtra. Criticizing Bharatiya Janata Party leaders and Governor Bhagat Singh Koshyari, Amol Mitkari – an MLC from the NCP – mimicked Hindu Brahmins who read various Kathas and religious stories while performing different rituals. Amol Mitkari went on to take a jibe at Narendra Modi and his various schemes as he narrated the story.
Reciting poems like a ‘comrade’
Amol Mitkari’s address included leftist-style poetry that meant, “Who are these people? They are the companions of Hitler. They are the ones who participate in the funeral processions (ensuring genocides). They don’t ask who are you, instead, they ask what is your caste and religion. Identify them. Beware of them. Some of them are sitting in Delhi. Some of them are in Mumbai. Many others are there from the internet to jumbo jets. They are camouflaged in the color of Asaram. They are attending the Satsang of Ramdev. We just do voting. All they do is just setting.”
Amol Mitkari call Modi a copycat
Accusing Narendra Modi of copying radio announcer Amin Sayani’s style, Amol Mitkari said, “He is a copycat. In old times there used to be a program of Hindi songs on the radio and Amin Sayani was the announcer of the program. Amin Sayani used to say ‘Bhaiyo aur Behno’ (that is brothers and sisters) before announcing the new song in the program. All Modi has done is just bring the style of the radio announcer into politics.” Mitkari also mimicked both Amin Sayani and Narendra Modi at this time.
Questioning the Hindutva ideology of Eknath Shinde
Amol Mitkari said, “Eknath Shinde went to Guwahati and sought blessings of Goddess Kamakhya to form a government. Why did he choose that deity? Wasn’t there any Goddess left in the state? There are so many temples of Devi in the state. He says that he did it for Hindutva. Later, his wife visited Ajmer. What kind of Hindutva this is?”
Amol Mitkari again mimicked Hindu priests (Brahmins )
On 19th April 2022, Amol Mitkari mimicked Hindu priests (Brahmins) as he made fun of Hindu rituals like Kanyadaan at weddings while addressing a rally. This time he made fun of the ‘Vaibhav Lakshmi’ pooja rituals. For those who are unaware, ‘Vaibhav Lakshmi Vrat’ is a ritual held by Hindu women on Thursdays in the Margashirsha month. On the fifth Thursday, at the time of completion of the ritual, women do a grand pooja and it is believed that the deity bestows her blessings upon the worshipper in the form of prosperity.
Mocking this ritual, Amol Mitkari said, “Women are misled by these Kathas (stories) which are repeatedly read during these various Vrat Poojas. Now that the month of Margashirsha is started, Vaibhav Lakshmi Vrat will be in full swing. A Thursday has already passed. My mother reads the story of Vaibhav Lakshmi since my childhood. It is believed that the Goddess Lakshmi becomes happy only after completing the Vrat task of five Thursdays and ensures prosperity in your life. The story is also very entertaining.” Hereafter Amol Mitkari started analyzing the religious story on so-called modern parameters.
He said, “There was a town where lived a king The king had two queens. Look, here is a right for a man to keep two wives. Thanks to Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar who wrote the constitution, there is no such ill provision now. Recently a youth from Akluj (a nearby town) married two twin girls. Isn’t he charged now for the offense? He had to go to jail. Because Babasaheb Ambedkar wrote the constitution, no Hindu can marry a second wife when the first one is alive. But the religious story says something else. It says there was a town where lived a king, he had two queens and the king liked one of the queens while he disliked the other. So, it does not end with two queens, but then there is a categorization based on like and dislike. See what else is there in the religious story.”
Amol Mitkari further said as he laughed and mimicked the priest, “And this storybook of ‘Vaibhav Lakshmi Vrat Katha’ is just for five rupees. If you want to do timepass buy these books. See what is written there. Shyam Baala was the beautiful daughter of the king. See what they write. They only write. We follow blindly. It has been like this for so many years. They write anything in these stories.”
Praising Sharad Pawar
Mitkari then quoted a Marathi saint Chokha Mela’s poetry that means sugarcane is rough but sugar is sweet, similarly, a devotee can be ill-learned but his emotions are pure. In the very next sentence, he said, “Don’t look at my external expression. I am loyal to Sharad Pawar and he only is our Lord Viththala. We are sons of farmers and we are most loyal. We are innocent people. We are descendants of Raja Bali who was deceived by Vamana. Vamana asked for three feet of land and Raja Bali agreed. He did not know that in two steps, Vamana will conquer the Earth and heavens. He did not know that he will put the third step on his head and will kill him. Today, these Vamanas are sitting in Mumbai and Delhi. They are killing the Bali Raja among us. See what kind of religious stories they have imposed on us.”
Throughout his talk, Mitkari continued various Hindu practices like Jyotish, Pooja rituals, etc. in the name of preaching progressive thoughts. He claimed that the government in Maharashtra will soon collapse after the cabinet expansion. Devendra Fadnavis is aware of it and therefore he is not expanding the cabinet. Besides, he also accused BJP of creating conflicts between the people of Maharashtra and Karnataka on the basis of linguistic differences.
