The Shiv Sena on Thursday took a jibe at the Bharatiya Janata Party, which claims to be working for Hindutva, saying it should ideally worry about thousands of Hindu and Sikh farmers protesting against the Central government instead of student leader Sharjeel Usmani, whom the tripartite Maha Vikas Aghadi government in Maharashtra would handcuff at any cost.
“For 90 days, farmers are camping on the borders of Delhi. All those farmers are Hindus. Tell us when are you going to send them back home with respect? That farmer is fighting for his rights. Now water and power connections are snapped and they have been given a carpet of spikes. Should we call it felicitation of Hindu farmers?” asked an editorial in Sena mouthpiece Saamana. It asked the BJP leaders to worry about the Hindutva which is barricaded at the road.
“Maharashtra is run by a government headed by Uddhav Thackeray. Hindutva will not be attacked here. The Maharashtra police will go to Aligarh in Uttar Pradesh where he is hiding and handcuff him. The north is a factory of anti-hindutva activities and from there it spreads all over,” said the editorial in the Saamana.
Mr. Usmani has come under the scanner for the alleged offensive remarks against the Hindu society over incidents of mob lynching in the country in an Elgaar Parishad organised in Pune on January 30. The BJP has been demanding his arrest and former chief minister Devendra Fadnavis had written to Mr. Thackeray questioning how could the Sena government allow such elements to roam freely. Home Minister Anil Deshmukh had already said a case had been registered against Mr. Usmani and he would be arrested soon.
The BJP on Thursday alleged that certain elements within the MVA government helped Mr. Usmani abscond. “Why was the Elgaar Parishad allowed knowing its history? It should be clarified as to who helped Sharjeel abscond from Maharashtra,” BJP MLA Ashish Shelar said.
