Man tries to throw black powder at minister Vinod Tawde in Satara

Vinod Tawde

A member of the Dhangar community tried to throw black powder at Maharashtra Education Minister Vinod Tawde in Satara today.

Tawde was in the Western Maharashtra city, about 250 km from here, for an event, when a person, later identified by police as Maruti Jankar, approached him with black powder (rpt powder) and attempted to threw it at him. Jankar was immediately detained, the Satara police said.

The black powder (rpt powder) in question is known as 'bukka' in local parlance and used at auspicious occasions.

For long, the Dhangar community members have been demanding reservation in government jobs and educational institutes.

A few days ago, some members of the community allegedly threw yellow powder ('bhandara') on Tawde at a function in Solapur city to press for their demand to rename the Solapur University after Ahilyabai Holkar, a medieval-era queen of the Maratha ruled Malwa kingdom.