Mumbai, Oct 3 — Union Minister and RPI-A chief Ramdas Athawale on Saturday criticised Cockroach Janata Party (CJP) founder Abhijeet Dipke for his remarks against Prime Minister Narendra Modi and urged him to apologise for the same.
During the protest against Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar at Mumbai's Shivaji Park on Friday, Dipke questioned PM Modi's repeated references to his past as a tea seller.
Addressing the gathering at the protest site, the CJP chief said: “This person is just travelling around the world with our money. One thing is that he keeps saying, ‘I have sold tea, I have sold tea, I have sold tea.’ Why did you sell tea? Did we ask you to sell tea? We said you could have gone to school, studied, and got a job.”
He also quipped, “PM Modi’s fashion sense and skin care are on point. Even the big actors and models cannot match his style.”
Reacting to the remarks, Athawale remarked that Dipke has developed "immense overconfidence".
Speaking to reporters, he said: "While it is good that some young people support him, making disparaging remarks about the country's Prime Minister is extremely inappropriate. I demand that he apologises for the words used by him."
Athawale further said that if Dipke and other CJP members want to defeat the NDA, then they are free to do that in a democracy.
"They can join the Congress or go wherever they want to...but using such language is not right. I condemn him for making such remarks against Devendra Fadnavis ji and for insulting PM Modi. He should apologise," the Union Minister said.
Ramdas Athawale mentioned that on Thursday, Dipke had launched a fiery roadside protest at Devendra Fadnavis, who is also the state's Home Minister, daring authorities to arrest him for the agitation against the CEC.
Meanwhile, Abhijeet Dipke had also credited former Prime Minister late Jawaharlal Nehru for bringing Dr B.R. Ambedkar into prominence, during his speech on Friday.
Condemning the same, Athawale said: "It is also incorrect to claim that Nehru 'made' Babasaheb Ambedkar; Babasaheb Ambedkar contributed to the progress of the entire nation. He made a monumental contribution to the country by drafting the Constitution."
Mentioning that Dipke made the remarks despite belonging to the community, he added: "This is not the culture of the Marathi community and neither of Ambedkarites."