Students protest Sharad Ponkshe's presence at Savarkar event

A group of students on Saturday protested against the presence of Marathi actor and theatre personality Sharad Ponkshe at an event on Hindutva ideologue V D Savarkar in Pune's Fergusson College, police said.

These students alleged Ponkshe was a supporter of Mahatma Gandhi's assassin Nathuram Godse.

One of the organisers Ranjit Natu said Ponkshe was the chief guest at the event being held at the college amphitheatre to distribute prizes for the elocution competition on 'Mi Savarkar' (I am Savarkar).

Ponkshe, also a writer, had played the eponymous lead in the controversial play 'Mi Nathuram Godse Boltoy', based on the assassination of Gandhiji.

However, another set of students arrived at the scene and shouted slogans in support of Ponkshe, leading to tension in the campus for some time before it was defused by police personnel deployed there, said an official.

Police later detained a student for trying to barge inside the amphitheatre to throw ink on Ponkshe, an organiser said.

Police also detained some students for raising slogans against Ponkshe.

"The programme is currently underway in the presence of Ponkshe. There is police deployment to ensure no untoward incident takes place," the Deccan Gymkhana police station official added.

Ponkshe also conducts lectures on the ideals of Savarkar.