Corporator’s deathtakes political hue

PUNE, Dec 21: Even as the Pune Municipal Corporation's general body meeting on Monday saw women corporators expressing outrage and sheer ...

PUNE, Dec 21: Even as the Pune Municipal Corporation’s general body meeting on Monday saw women corporators expressing outrage and sheer disgust at the gruesome death of Navi Mumbai corporator Meena More, the discussion sadly assumed political overtones with even a disheartened Mayor Vatsala Andekar abruptly ending her impassioned speech “on the need for women not to get cowed down by such attacks.”

Congress corporator Shobha Barne moved an adjournment motion to condemn the death of More, who had allegedly been set afire by four Congress workers at Airoli, and the shocking murder of Surat based corporator Neeta Satbhaya. Pune Vikas Aghadi corporator Kamal Vyavahare seconded the motion and said “the macabre acts were a blot on humanity.”

The motion which had several women corporators waxing eloquent on their hardships and the pressures they faced from various lobbies while carrying out constructive work at their respective wards, however found the Mayor Andekar reacting sharply at some BJP corporators Jyotsna Sardeshpande, Corporaters death gets political hue Sunita Chintan and Shashikala Mengde’s plea that 33 per cent reservation for women was all very fine, but they also required protection.

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They argued that they were flooded with anonymous and threatening calls in the night if they single-handedly worked against irregular practices, particularly in slum areas and it injured the male ego who made it difficult for such women corporators who were good at their jobs to function effectively. However, the Mayor regretted that things had come to such a pass when the women corporators were demanding protection.

In her forceful speech, Andekar lashed out at More’s attackers who she termed “impotent” and urged the women corporators not to politicise the traumatic death of their counterpart in Navi Mumbai. While stating that the anti-social elements should be crushed, Andekar made a strong case towards refraining from portraying a weak image of the woman and being fearless while exercising her duties.

She pooh-poohed the demand for seeking protection and leaning on others’ crutches for support all the time. “It’s high time, we stood up together, looked beyond party politics and create an atmosphere where the attackers will fear the women corporators,” she said.

A heated debate ensued as Chintan, Sardeshpande and others sprang to their feet objecting to the Mayor’s remarks aimed at the BJP corporators. The Mayor however refused to finish her speech, abruptly ending it on a sad note.

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Earlier several women corporators condemned the dastardly act, Shiv Sena corporator Swati Nimhan’s statement that the adjournment motion did not condemn the Congress workers who had committed the act, rankled the Congress camp with Vandana Chavan, Alka Patil and others furiously opposing the manner in which she tried to get party politics in the discussion.

The Maharashtra Pradesh Congress Committee chief Prataprao Bhosale has clarified that they were not Congress workers, Chavan said deriding that she had least expected a woman corporator to give the discussion a political colour instead of condemning the heinous killing.