Muslim staffer forced to break Ramadan; NCP wants probe against RSS

Mumbai, July 23: In a highly insensitive incident, 11 Shiv Sena MPs forced a Muslim catering supervisor to break his fast by inserting a full chapati in his mouth. The reason behind this outrageous act was the fact that they were not served Maharashtrian food at the Maharashtra Sadan.

The incident was rooted in complains by the MPs about the lack of services at the Sadan. Following this, the Indian Railways immediately withdrew its services from the place. It further wrote a letter to the Resident Commissioner, saying that the employee was deeply hurt as religious sentiments were attached.

In turn, the Commissioner is said o have apologised to IRCTC and asked Arshad to meet him so that the sentiments could be conveyed personally.

Apart from this, the Maharashtra government has vowed to take an appropriate action.

The 11 MPs who were named included Sanjay Raut (Rajya Sabha), Anandrao Adsul (Amravati), Rajan Vichare (Thane), Arvind Sawant (Mumbai-South), Hemant Godse (Nashik), Krupal Tumane (Ramtek), Ravindra Gaikwad (Osmanabad), Vinayak Raut (Ratnagiri-Sindhudurg), Shivaji Adhalrao Patil (Shirur), Rahul Shewale (Mumbai-South Central) and Shrikant Shinde (Kalyan).

While Shiv Sena MPs are calling the allegations baseless, negative reactions are coming from all quarters of the political circuit.

Nationalist Congress Party general secretary Tariq Anwar said,"Shiv Sena isn't a responsible party and it has always been a group of anti-social people."

Samajwadi Party leader Naresh Agarwal, meanwhile, described the incident as "highly condemnable", adding he knows the government would not take any action against this, "but it must".

In an e-mail sent to the Commissioner, IRCTC deputy GM said,"Today there was a meeting of 12-15 MPs at New Maharashtra Sadan in the Press Conference Hall in which they were complaining about the services of Electrical, civil, housekeeping, catering, etc which they are facing from the last several months in the premises of Maharashtra Sadan."

He further explained,"The entire delegation along with the electronic media and Manager, Maharashtra Sadan, walked inside the public dining hall and started throwing chafing dish covers in the buffet area. They also issued physical threats to the kitchen and service staff while using highly objectionable language. The specific incident happened with the Resident Manager/IRCTC, Sh. Arshad who was forced to consume full chapati whilst he was having fast on the eve of Ramzan. The concerned has been deeply pained and hurt on this account as religious sentiments are attached."

Arshad said,"All the guests along with media reporters and staffs of Maharashtra Sadan got into kitchen where I was getting the orders prepared. They caught me and put the chapati into my mouth. I was wearing a formal uniform set as prescribed by IRCTC and everybody in the panel also knew my name as ‘Arshad' as I was wearing the name tag. Even then they inserted chapati in my mouth which caused my fast to break on the eve of Ramzan. I was hurt with the thing they have done as religious sentiments are concerned."

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