Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar is in the middle of a controversy, which is increasing by the day, after a video purportedly depicting him admonishing a woman IPS officer who had taken action against illegal excavation in Solapur went viral on social media. The video seems to demonstrate Pawar asking Sub-Divisional Police Officer Anjali Krishna to suspend action against those people who were engaged in illegal excavation of the soil known as ‘murrum’. “You put the action on hold and go back to your office, you can hear him say. Instruct the tehsildar to halt the move as per the directive of the deputy CM.”
The video was quickly met with a collective hue and cry, and several people wondered why the Deputy Chief Minister should have intervened in a police operation that was already underway. Users of social media raised concerns regarding the seemingly apparent interference with the responsibilities of law enforcement, and emphasized the significance of supporting the independence of police officers in carrying out their tasks.
But the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) acted promptly to diminish the situation. The party claimed that Ajit Pawar had no interest in halting the act altogether, and the video was being misunderstood. The NCP stressed that the order issued by the deputy CM was not administrative coordination, but did not constitute a wholesale suspension of the execution of the law.
Politics have also responded to the incidence. Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Sushama Andhare has come out in support of Anjali Krishna, saying that her move to confirm that the call was really by the Deputy CM was absolutely the right thing to do. Andhare replied, “Why should she not stop the action? Nothing was wrong in wanting to check whether the call was actually made by the deputy CM.”
The scandal has rekindled debate on the topic of political interventions in administrative affairs and the hardships encountered by officers on the ground to perform legal duties.
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