Gadkari seeks facilities for those detained during Emergency
Union Transport Minister Nitin Gadkari has demanded that Maharashtra government provide special facilities to the persons detained during the Emergency under the Maintenance of Internal Security Act (MISA). MISA detainees have demanded to be treated as freedom fighters saying that detainees in UP, MP, Bihar and Chhattisgarh are considered at par with the freedom fighters and are given pensions.
Union minister for transport and shipping Nitin Gadkari has demanded that the Maharashtra government provide special facilities to those detained during the Emergency under the Maintenance of Internal Security Act (MISA). The MISA detainees on?Sunday held a convention under the banner of Satyagrahi Sangh in Nagpur after meeting Gadkari at his Mahal residence. The group, led by the Sangh?s vice-president Sacchidanand Upasane, national secretary Komal Chheda and Maharashtra unit chief Jayprakash Pande insisted that the detainees be treated as freedom fighters and be given all facilities available to a freedom fighter in the country. Incidentally, most of the MISA detainees are RSS activists or its supporters.The group submitted a memorandum to Gadkari, briefing him about the facilities and recognition extended to detainees in states like UP, MP, Bihar and Chhattisgarh. They claimed that in these states, the detainees are considered at par with the freedom fighters and given pensions and other facilities. The government in Rajasthan recently formed a committee to study facilities available to MISA and Defence of India Rules 1971 detainees in other states. The committee will its report to the state soon, they claimed. The group also pointed out that in Madhya Pradesh, MISA detainees, dubbed as ?Democracy Warrior? draw a monthly honorarium of Rs 25,000. Gadkari told the group he had already spoken to chief minister Devendra Fadnavis and the state finance minister, Sudhir Munganttiwar, in this regard. ?Both were positive on the issue.? The Congress, meanwhile, has accused the BJP-led government of trying to give such facilities to its Sangh Parivar members. ?The move is totally a political one,? says former Union minister Vilas Muttemwar. Muttemwar warned his party would launch a statewide agitation if government accepted the group?s demand.?How can these Sangh Parivar members be compared with freedom fighters??