Drawing similarities with the killing of anti-superstition leader Narendra Dabolkar, the mood among speakers was of anger as well as a resolve to fight issues that Dabolkar and Pansare fought for.
People like Pansare, Dabolkar and even Mahatma Gandhi were killed for their thoughts and ideas said one speaker. Also present was St Andre MLA Vishnu Wagh who propounded that ideas of secularism needed to be spread among the people and not silence them with government doles.
“We have to go to the level of the people to talk of secularism because they tend to listen one day and forget the next. Government offering doles is not helping them,” he said.
Pansare’s critical thinking and logical reasoning were the other topics members discussed, calling for a need to continue with his ideas and beliefs.
Among the other speakers were Dr Mukul Pai Raiturkar, Ramesh Gawas, Thalmann Pereira and others.
On February 16, Pansare and his wife were shot at during their morning walk near their house in Kolhapur. Four days later, the CPI leader succumbed to the bullet wounds.
