On the first day of the Maharashtra assembly’s budget session, Nationalist Congress Party – Sharadchandra Pawar (NCP-SCP) Leader Jitendra Awhad enters the Vidhan Bhavan with handcuffs. He said that he was protesting against the way Indian immigrants are being deported by the US in handcuffs after US President Donald Trump's Migration policy. He also demanded the immediate resignation of minister Dhananjay Munde in the Santosh Deshmukh murder case.
He said, “The way Indians are facing injustice in America and they are being tied and deported, there is a problem of visas, no Indian is safe in America. We (government) are not speaking a single word about America."
Speaking with reporters outside Vidhan Bhavan, he said, “There was no representation from any state in this; many people from our Maharashtra are stuck in this same predicament. The Marathi people who dream of going to America and growing up in America are being shattered.”
He also spoke about how activists are being silenced and how there is no freedom of speech for them. He said, “The attack on freedom of expression, how cases are being filed against activists who express themselves and their voices are being silenced, is wrong, our constitutional right. We must express ourselves; the right of expression and the right to speech are our fundamental rights, and these handcuffs are there so that those fundamental rights remain intact.”
Further, speaking about the Santosh Deshmukh murder case, he said, “I don't think the government will take action against Dhananjay Munde. He did not commit the murder. Valmik Karad is the mastermind of Santosh Deshmukh's murder, and he is Dhananjay Munde's good friend. Dhananjay Munde himself has said this. If he is his friend, then Dhananjay Munde should resign.”