Leader of Opposition in Maharashtra Assembly and Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) leader Ajit Pawar, Party state president Jayant Patil and party leader Chhagan Bhujbal stage a protest over the derogatory article published on the website against social reformer Savitribai Phule, outside Mumbai Police Commissioner, in Mumbai on Wednesday.
| Photo Credit: ANI
Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde has directed senior authorities to probe a website for posting allegedly derogatory content against pioneering 19th century educationalist Savitribai Phule after senior Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) leaders staged a protest on Wednesday against controversial websites attempting to malign the trailblazing reformer’s reputation.
Mr. Shinde has directed the Chief Secretary to scrutinise the contents of the controversial website ‘Indic Tales’ which allegedly uploaded offensive posts on Savitribai Phule.
“The website ‘Indic Tales’ has written several objectionable things about Krantijyoti Savitribai Phule in its published article. Many political organizations and social organizations have raised objections. Taking cognizance of these, Chief Minister Eknath Shinde has directed the contents of this website be thoroughly scrutinized and stern action taken against it if the allegations are found true,” said a statement issued by the CM’s Office (CMO).
It further cautioned authors and publishing houses to be careful while writing about great personages and ensure that their articles and posts be “scholarly” in content.
Earlier on Wednesday, NCP leaders led by Maharashtra Leader of Opposition Ajit Pawar, former Minister Chhagan Bhujbal and NCP State chief Jayant Patil protested outside the Mumbai Police Commissioner’s office regarding the allegedly ‘derogatory’ content in ‘Indic Tales’ and another website, ‘Hindu Post.’
The leaders met with the Mumbai city police chief and submitted a letter signed by Mr. Pawar, Mr. Patil and Mr. Bhujbal to the Commissioner demanding action against these websites, while alleging that these articles – demeaning the contribution of Savitribai – had been published with the intent to incite people.
“In the Maharashtra of Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj and Shahu-Phule-Ambedkar [Chhatrapati Rajarshi Shahu-Jyotirao Phule-Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar], insulting Savitribai Phule is a cheap act and we strongly protest against it,” said the letter.
Speaking to reporters, Mr. Pawar said: “We have met the Mumbai Commissioner of Police and submitted a memorandum urging him to take action against these two websites – ‘Indic Tales’ and ‘Hindu Post’. Of late, there has been a trend in defaming great personages which we strongly condemn.”
The article published on the ‘Indic Tales’ website titled ‘Why Hindu Female Teachers before Savitribai Phule are not Recognized’ says that Savitribai Phule’s school was sponsored by British missionaries and questions the British motives for supporting her project.
The article in ‘Hindu Post’ (dated January 5, 2022) titled ‘Was Savitribai Phule really the ‘first female teacher’ in Bharat?’ questions whether Savitribai was indeed the first female teacher in India, while attributing that credit to Hotee Vidyalankar, a Bengali Hindu widow, who, as per the article, was a scholar of Sanskrit poetry, law, mathematics and ayurveda. The article claims she established a school in Varanasi for women and died 21 years before Savitribai was born (1831). The article further claims Savitribai Phule allegedly wrote poems “glorifying British and Christianity.”
Condemning these claims, Mr. Bhujbal stressed on the need for swift action to address these attempts to malign Savitribai’s reputation and urged the State government to ban the websites.