NCP’s Leader of Opposition Ajit Pawar has demanded a government-level inquiry into the incident of a rapper shooting parts of an “obscene” Marathi rap song on the campus of Savitribai Phule Pune University (SPPU). In a letter addressed to Chief Minister Eknath Shinde, Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis, and Higher and Technical Education Minister Chandrakant Patil, Pawar called for the government to take stringent action against those responsible for the incident and ensure that such incidents do not happen in any university or educational institution.
The video of the rapper, identified as Shubham Jadhav or ‘rocKsun’, singing a song replete with obscenity while sitting in the Vice Chancellor’s chair in the senate hall with a bottle of liquor and weapon on the table, has gone viral on social media. The incident has been condemned by Pawar, who stated that it adversely affects the reputation of the university.
SPPU has announced a high-level probe into the incident, headed by retired IPS officer Jayant Umranikar. The committee is expected to submit its report within a month. Pune police have already booked Jadhav after the university administration approached them with a complaint of trespassing and using obscene language in the song. The police have clarified that there is no involvement of any caste-linked, religious, or political angle in the case and that it has been registered solely for the use of obscene words in the song, which includes footage from the SPPU.
Pawar has called for the government to summon the probe reports from the police and the inquiry panel and take stringent action against those found responsible for the incident. He emphasized the importance of ensuring that such incidents do not happen in any university or educational institution.
The incident was initially brought to attention by Akshay Patil, a leader of the student wing of the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP), who clarified that the objection was not to the song itself but to the fact that the SPPU administration allowed a detailed shoot for the “obscenity-filled song” to take place within its auditoriums and meeting rooms.
The rapper, Jadhav, is popular in the Marathi hip-hop circuit. However, his actions on the SPPU campus have caused outrage and brought into question the university’s reputation. It remains to be seen what action the government will take in response to Pawar’s demands.