M A I N   N E W S

Parties one in flaying Thackeray
Vibha Sharma
Tribune News Service

However, the Congress did not mince words as it went about lambasting Thackerey for his comments on Sachin. Congress spokesperson Manish Tewari said “the comments were not worth the paper they were written on” but had to be responded to because of their “long-term implications”.

Warning political parties about raising “narrow, identity-based issues that insult the unity, diversity and pluralism of India”, he said: “The reaction to Sachin’s assertion of his Indianess is completely uncalled for, unwarranted and deserve to be condemned.”

CPM politburo member Brinda Karat said: “Sachin, as a citizen, has the right to make comments on anything. If he believes that Mumbai belongs to whole of India, he will find that not only the whole of India but a very large majority of the people in Mumbai, too, hold the same opinion.”

Minister of State for External Affairs Shashi Tharoor also tweeted in favour of the batting maestro, saying: “My late father Chandran Tharoor had said in 1966 that with Maharashtra for Maharashtrians and Kashmir for Kashmiris, where is India for Indians.”

BCCI’s media in charge Rajiv Shukla demanded that Thackeray should withdraw his remarks. “I don’t agree with this contention that Marathis get upset if one calls oneself an Indian (first). There is nothing wrong in Sachin’s statement. He (Thackeray) should withdraw his statement,” agencies quoted Shukla as saying.

Maharashtra Chief Minister Ashok Chavan also came out in strong defence of Sachin Tendulkar, saying the master blaster had spoken from the bottom of his heart and that his statement will unite the country. “Sachin’s statement has been made in true sportsman spirit. Though he is a Maharashtrian, he plays for the country. This (Tendulkar’s remark) will unite the entire country,” Chavan said.

Meanwhile, while defending Thackeray at a press conference here, ‘Saamna’ executive editor Sanjay Raut said: “The views stated by Balasaheb Thackeray are very clear. We at Shiv Sena also think that country comes first. That is why we always say ‘Jai Hind, Jai Maharashtra’. But Shiv Sena has every right to speak on the issue of Maharashtra and being Maharashtrian.”

In an interaction with mediapersons on completing 20 years in international cricket, Tendulkar had said: “I am a Maharashtrian and I am extremely proud of that. But I am an Indian first. And Mumbai belongs to all Indians.”

Over this, Sena mouthpiece ‘Saamna’ quoted Thackeray as saying: “There was no need to take a cheeky single by making these remarks… you have got run-out from the ‘pitch’ of Marathi psyche… You were not even born when the ‘Marathi Manoos’ got Mumbai and 105 Marathi persons sacrificed their lives to get Mumbai.”

Comments on Tendulkar

— Manish Tewari, Congress spokesperson

There is nothing wrong in Sachin’s remarks. Sachin is right that
he is an Indian first and then a Maharashtrian…

— Arun Jaitley, BJP leader