Maharashtra: Row over minister ordering cops to ‘break bones’ of guests at own birthday bash

Maharashtra minorities development minister Abdul Sattar became the target of the Opposition Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) after he was purportedly seen and heard ordering the police to “cane and break bones” of guests invited to his own birthday bash late on Wednesday

A purported video of the incident showing the minister raising his voice, raising his arms and asking the police to "beat them like dogs, so much that their buttock-bones are broken", drew flak from MVA allies Congress and Shiv Sena-UBT.

The minister, belonging to the ruling ally Shiv Sena led by chief minister Eknath Shinde, seemingly shouted his orders on a microphone, ostensibly after the crowds became uncontrollable during a performance by popular Lavni dancer Gautami Patil and her troupe to celebrate his birthday on 1 January.

As the fracas over his remarks seemed to escalate, Sattar on Thursday evening expressed "regret" for his choice of words and language, claiming "the situation was going out of control".

Leader of Opposition Ambadas Danve of the Shiv Sena-UBT slammed the minister for his use of words like "demon", "dogs", "buttocks", etc before the crowds. "The kind of language that Sattar has used suits his culture… It is accepted by the ruling allies Shiv Sena and the Bharatiya Janata Party," Danve said.

Congress state chief spokesperson Atul Londhe asked whether Sattar "is a minister or a goon", and "whether CM Shinde will show courage to take action" against his arrogant colleague.

"The more shocking is that Sattar orders the police to 'beat these people like dogs, break their backs, what’s the point of having a thousand cops when you can’t beat up these 50,000 people?'"

The minister’s ire was apparently provoked by a rapturous crowd which went berserk, resulting in chaos and confusion in the darkness. Initially, Sattar attempted to appeal for peace and calm, but when it failed to restore order, he virtually screamed out instructions to the police to use brute force on invitees to his own birthday bash.

Terming Sattar "unfit to be a minister", Londhe demanded of Shinde and deputy CM Devendra Fadnavis whether the police are being used to provide security to a minister’s private parties.

"Sattar has always been controversial… Earlier his name came up in the TET scam, the 37 acres cattle grazing land-scam, and his aide’s name cropped up in a fake raid case, he also abused NCP-SP MP Supriya Sule. He has always displayed arrogance of power, but now the people of the state will teach him a lesson," Londhe said.