After Maharashtra journalist Nikhil Wagle criticised the politics of Vanchit Bahujan Aghadi chief Prakash Ambedkar, the VBA’s official Twitter handle said it would be “difficult to control the anger” of those who support the party unless the journalist proves his allegations against Ambedkar.

The party’s remarks came while social media handles appearing to be the VBA’s supporters threatened and trolled the journalist. A VBA spokesperson, however, denied that the party’s official handle or any of its office-bearers had engaged in issuing any threat to the journalist.

The trolling began on January 26 when Wagle, who has over four decades of experience in the news sector, posted a series of tweets questioning Ambedkar, who is also Dr BR Ambedkar’s grandson, over his previous refusal to join hands with the NCP-Congress-Sena (Uddhav) combine, called the Maha Vikas Aghadi. In an interview on local outlet Max Maharashtra’s YouTube channel the same day, Wagle also claimed that Ambedkar seemed to be an opportunist and allegedly functioned like a dictator within his own party.

The journalist said that as an Ambedkarite it was his duty to speak the truth. “I was invited by Max Maharashtra for an interview about Prakash Ambedkar’s politics…I exposed his politics after which I was targeted by VBA trolls and received threats,” he claimed.

“Prakash Ambedkar is using Dr Ambedkar’s name and doing all these things. Without his permission, they do not target anyone. I have faced trolls and harassment throughout my journalism career…but this is the worst. They are as bad as the BJP…but I am not afraid of them.”

Wagle has not approached the police over the issue.

The VBA’s official Twitter handle also hit out at Max Maharashtra journalist Ravindra Ambekar for inviting both Wagle and Prakash Ambedkar for an open discussion after the interview on January 26. Ambekar was referred to as a “donkey” by the party’s official handle, asked to apologise, and trolled by VBA supporters.

“You ran baseless allegations without any proof. Prove the allegations first and we will come to your debate. Either prove the allegations or apologise publicly!,” the VBA tweeted on January 29.

Meanwhile, Max Maharashtra executive editor Manoj Bhoyar said the VBA’s “official social media handles are not only refusing to engage in constructive debate but also resorting to derogatory language, such as calling a respected journalist a ‘donkey’. What is even more perplexing is the apparent alliance of right-wing handles in this trolling campaign… We extend an earnest appeal to advocate Prakash Ambedkar to rise above the fray and engage in a live debate with journalist Nikhil Wagle. We are prepared to facilitate and host this debate in a fair and impartial manner.”

Ambekar said, “In a democracy, the space for debate should never shrink. I urge the Vanchit Aghadi to honour the teachings of Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar in this regard.”

However, VBA spokesperson and Maharashtra vice president Siddharth Mokule denied that the party had issued any threat. “We have not issued any kind of physical threat to anyone. If someone in the public is abusing them or threatening them in the comment box, then how can we be held responsible for it? We don’t know how people are reacting and what they are saying, but despite that we have issued an official notification today stating that no member or supporter of VBA should react in the matter of Nikhil Wagle and party leaders will handle the issue at their own level.” 

Mokule claimed Wagle was among those who tried to “defame” the VBA while parroting a claim repeated by the MVA whose seat-sharing formula was refused by Ambedkar’s party ahead of the 2019 polls. “Their leaders used to tell the media that they will give us an appropriate number of seats, but actually they just offered us one seat from Akola and said we can join them if  we are ready to agree on their conditions. They defamed us and termed as the B team of the BJP and Nikhil Wagle was one of the people who propagated it more and damaged us politically. The people who were tagging us as B team from the Congress and NCP themselves have joined BJP.”

The VBA spokesperson claimed Wagle was “playing the victim” after creating “this controversy” at a time when the party is engaged in talks with MVA constituents. “We want to clarify again that neither our office-bearers nor our official handle has issued any threat to him.”

This report was published with AI assistance.