Prompt action saved situation in Satara

SATARA: Unlike the complete failure of the police machinery and district administration that led to the demolition of the Babri Masjid in 1992, it was prompt action and wellplanned measures by the Satara district administration that prevented a recap of events at the Afzal Khan tomb in Pratapgad.
The administration was on guard after activists of the Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP), Bajrang Dal and the Shiv Pratap Utsav Samiti threatened to demolish the tomb of Afzal Khan at the foothills of Pratapgad at Wai, near Satara.
District collector Subrao Patil was in the forefront of the operations, along with district superintendent of police Chandrakant Kumbhar and sub-divisional officer Pravin Patil and others.
After a six-hour meeting with Subrao Patil and other officials last week, the local VHP leaders had agreed to call off their plan to pull down the tomb, scheduled for Sunday.
This was done as the administration had agreed, in principle, to most of their demands like celebrating ''Shiv Pratap Din'' at the fort and the construction of a Shiv Pratap memorial.
The VHP leaders then decided to hold a ''Vijayi Melawa'' (victory rally) at Pachwad, around 25 km from Satara, on the Pune-Satara highway.
However, fissures within the VHP came out in the open when state VHP leader Venkatesh Abdev said that they would go ahead with their plan to demolish the tomb.
Wanting to prevent any misrepresentation of facts by the media during the victory rally at Pachwad on September 12, the district collectorate arranged for vehicles to ferry journalists to Pratapgad and Pachwad to help them see the situation for themselves.
The administration also did not take any chances, as was evident from the unprecedented security measures taken. Roads in the vicinity of the fort were sealed for private vehicles.
Only a few ST buses were being allowed to run, that too after stringent checks, for the convenience of the local people.
Around 1,000 policemen were deployed for bandobast duty in and around the fort and an area of four km from the shrine (Ambenali Ghat onwards) was completely sanitised and even mediapersons were not allowed to enter.
Journalists were taken to Pachwad, where the rally was on, and the trouble began a few minutes after the reporters reached there.
The mob first pelted stones in the direction of the police and the journalists, who were standing behind them. One stone hit Subrao Patil on the head, who escaped unhurt as he was wearing a helmet.
Soon after, the police swung into action and in a sterling example of leading from the front, Kumbhar, with a lathi in his hand, was in the midst of action.
The violent mob was brought under control within half-an-hour and stray resistance continued for another half-an-hour. The highway was reopened for traffic and order restored within five minutes of the incident.