NGO members take out Sholay-style agitation against Raosaheb Danve

Members of a non-governmental organisation undertook a 'Sholay'-style agitation as they climbed on a water tank here in Maharashtra on Thursday to protest against Union minister Raosaheb Danve's controversial comments on the ongoing stir by farmers over new agri laws.

The BJP leader has been facing flak after claiming that China and Pakistan were behind the protests by farmers, who are demanding scrapping of the three news agri-marketing laws enacted by the Modi government in September.

Volunteers of 'Prahar', an organisation headed by Maharashtra minister Bacchu Kadu, climbed on a water tank in Shivaji Nagar here as part of their agitation against Danve.

The agitation started around 1 pm and continued till late in the night as the protesters rejected repeated appeals by the police to come down and demonstrate.

"We have commenced this agitation against Raosaheb Danve as he has alleged that there was involvement of Pakistan and China in the farmers' agitation taking place in Delhi.

"We (outfit members) will continue to be atop the water tank till Raosaheb Danve apologises for his remarks," Prahar district unit president Sudhakar Shinde told PTI.

A police team reached the spot and requested the volunteers to come down and agitate, but to no avail.

"We requested the protesters to climb down and agitate. We are not using any force...when our men tried to climb the tank to pacify the protesters, they threatened to jump off the structure," a senior official from the Jawahar Nagar police station said.