Sena tried to disrupt a press conference on an Indo-Pak exchange programme for photo-journalists.
It was a day of protests for the Shiv Sena, which started off by protesting against Mumbai BJP president Ashish Shelar and moved on to disrupting a press conference about an Indo-Pak exchange programme for photo-journalists.
The Shiv Sena earlier in the day protested outside Churchgate station, where activists burned an effigy of Shelar. Shiv Sena activists put up posters portraying Shelar as “Shakuni” and BJP president Amit Shah as “Gabbar Singh”.
Shelar had earned the Sena’s wrath after he said his party too could burn effigies or copies of party mouthpieces. Even though Shelar had not referred to the Sena by name, he was referring to instances of Sena cadre burning BJP mouthpiece Manogat earlier in the week.
The Sena has been furious after BJP spokesperson Madhav Bhandari, in an article in the party unit’s fortnightly publication Manogat, dared the Sena to take “divorce” and also referred to Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray as a character from the famous Bollywood flick Sholay.
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Shelar’s remarks had not gone down well with the Sena cadre, who held the protest on Tuesday. The party later in the day also mounted a protest at a press conference organised by the Observer Research Foundation to announce an exchange programme, where photographers from India and Pakistan would visit Karachi and Mumbai respectively to highlight the similarities between the two cities.
Sena workers tried to disrupt the press conference but were taken away and detained by the Mumbai Police. The Sena said it would not allow any form of interaction with Pakistan when soldiers were being killed by Pakistani-sponsored terrorists on the border. “People who are doing anti-national activities are being protected. We have CRPF jawans being shot dead by Pakistani terrorists and here we are hosting them. Those who want to do such things should be sent to Pakistan,” said Shiv Sena MP Anil Desai.
Meanwhile, the party, through its mouthpiece Saamana, also took a swipe at Prime Minister Narendra Modi and questioned how many citizens had received Rs 15 lakh in their bank accounts. “Before the (Lok Sabha) polls, Modi had said black money worth around Rs 2 lakh crore is stashed in foreign banks and had promised Rs 15 lakh in the bank account of each citizen. Two years in power, how much of it has been brought back?” the edit said.
The Shiv Sena shares an uneasy alliance with the BJP, which has been marked by political acrimony and bickering. The bickering has intensified with the BMC elections around the corner. The Sena, which has been forced to play second fiddle to the BJP in Maharashtra, is keen to retain its numero uno status in the country’s richest Municipal body.
The BJP, on the back of its new-found electoral strength, is keen to usurp the Sena as the dominant party in the BMC. Though both the parties have not formally announced that they will fight elections independent of each other, they have been swiping at each other to test each other’s patience.
