Caught on cam: Sena MP forces fasting Muslim to eat
Ranjan Vichare who forcibly stuffed a roti into the supervisor’s mouth said that he had no idea that the supervisor was Muslim or if he was fasting during Ramzan.
NEW DELHI: In a blatant misuse of power, 11 angry and insensitive Shiv Sena MPs forced a Muslim supervisor who was fasting during Ramzan to eat a chapati at the Maharashtra Sadan in Delhi last week.
One of the Shiv Sena MPs, Rajan Vichare, was caught on camera force-feeding the catering supervisor fasting during Ramzan. Despite that he first brazenly brushed aside the charges, insisting that nothing of the sort had transpired, but when told that he is seen on camera forcing a ‘roti’ into the supervisor’s mouth, he said he was merely protesting against the bad food that was being served at the Maharashtra Sadan.
The Shiv Sena MPs were also angry over not being served Maharashtrian food at the Maharashtra Sadan.
In protest over the inhuman torture, IRCTC, the Indian Railways subsidiary catering for Maharashtra Sadan, suspended all operations and filed a written complaint to Maharashtra Resident Commissioner saying that the employee Arshad Zubair was deeply hurt and pained over the incident, The Indian Express reported.
The commissioner has also apologised to the IRCTC and Arshad.
NDTV quoted Maharashtra Sadan's Resident Commissioner Bipin Mallik saying: 'Arshad has been deeply pained and hurt on this account as religious sentiments are attached'.
In his letter to the resident commissioner, Arshad said that the MPs entered the kitchen and forced a chapati into his mouth.
He also said he was wearing his uniform with a name tag —‘Arshad’ — on it alleging that the MPs knew what they were doing.
The Indian Express reported that in his complaint, Arshad said: 'All the guests along with media reporters and staffs of Maharashtra Sadan got into kitchen where I was getting the orders prepared. They caught me and put the chapati into my mouth. I was wearing a formal uniform set as prescribed by IRCTC and everybody in the panel also knew my name as ‘Arshad’ as I was wearing the name tag. Even then they inserted chapati in my mouth which caused my fast to break on the eve of Ramzan. I was hurt with the thing they have done as religious sentiments are concerned.'
The letter alleges that the MPs who were involved in the incident are Sanjay Raut (Rajya Sabha), Anandrao Adsul (Amravati), Rajan Vichare (Thane), Arvind Sawant (Mumbai-South), Hemant Godse (Nashik), Krupal Tumane (Ramtek), Ravindra Gaikwad (Osmanabad), Vinayak Raut (Ratnagiri-Sindhudurg), Shivaji Adhalrao Patil (Shirur), Rahul Shewale (Mumbai-South Central) and Shrikant Shinde (Kalyan), reports The Indian Express.
Sena spokesman Sanjay Raut has, meanwhile, dismissed the allegations as baseless. Shiv Sena MP Anant Geete also said that such an incident never took place.
Did not know he was a Muslim, says Shiv Sena MP
Playing down the incident after being caught on tape, Ranjan Vichare who forcibly stuffed a roti into the supervisor’s mouth said that he had no idea that the supervisor was Muslim or if he was fasting during Ramzan.
Complaining of water problem and unhygienic food at the Maharashtra Sadan, Vichare told NDTV: 'We were only protesting against bad quality of food. You can't tear a roti with your hands, how can you eat it?'
He also accused the IRCTC, a subsidiary of the Indian Railways, of creating a mess in the Sadan and said that the food here is so bad that they have to go to UP or Gujarat Bhavan to eat.
Justifying his dastardly act, Vichare defended himself saying that he only asked the catering supervisor, Arshad Zubair, to try the roti.
Vichare was peeved that Maharashtrian type of cuisine was not available at the Maharashtra Sadan where the canteen is managed by IRCTC.
Angry at what he alleged was poor quality food, Vichare put the entire blame on Zubair and even attempted to push a 'roti' into his mouth.
Party spokesperson Sanjay Raut said that these people who are trying to put a communal colour on the incident "have lost their mental balance".
Thackeray said that "it was a trivial" matter and there was no need to give it communal overtones.
"We may have a Hindutva agenda, but we shall never play with the religious sentiments of any community," he told mediapersons in Aurangabad Wednesday morning.
Thackeray categorically denied the incident which happened July 17 -- that Shiv Sena MP from Thane Rajan Vichare allegedly forced a 'roti' into the mouth of Maharashtra Sadan canteen staffer Ashraf Zubair, complaining about the poor quality of food served there.
Since Zubair was observing a Ramzan fast, it is claimed that Vichare's action broke the fast, raising a controversy which echoed in Parliament Wednesday.
Later, canteen manager Shankar Malhotra reported the entire matter to Maharashtra Resident Commissioner in New Delhi Bipin Malik.
The Shiv Sena was also peeved because last week Malik had refused permission to hold a state cultural programme in Maharashtra Sadan, was not allotting rooms to state MPs and other issues.
Vichare himself dismissed the allegations levelled against him and said that their grievance was about the poor management of Maharashtra Sadan.