Sena-BJP faceoff
The Shiv Sena and the BJP have been at daggers drawn ever since the former — once the saffron party’s oldest ally — parted ways in 2019, weeks after the Maharashtra Assembly election results were declared. The hostilities came to a head on Tuesday with the arrest of the BJP’s Union Minister Narayan Tatu Rane, who was earlier with the Shiv Sena as well as the Congress. Multiple FIRs were registered against him across the state over his comment that he would have slapped CM Uddhav Thackeray for being purportedly ignorant of the year of Independence. Even as the Raigad court has granted bail to Rane, the Nashik police has summoned him for questioning in connection with one of the FIRs pertaining to defamation and other charges. The developments have triggered protests and violence, with BJP and Sena workers clashing in Mumbai and Ratnagiri.
Rane’s remark was indeed irresponsible and potentially inciteful, though such mud-slinging is regarded as par for the course in politics. But the Sena-led Maha Vikas Aghadi government’s retaliation has been disproportionate to the offence committed. Extracting an unconditional apology from Rane would have sufficed to bring the unsavoury matter to an end. However, the ruling party chose to unleash the police on the Union minister rather than confining itself to a verbal duel. This extreme step reeks of vendetta politics — stooping to a new low to settle scores. Battle lines have already been drawn for the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation polls, due early next year. Over 40 cases have been registered in four days against Rane’s Jan Ashirwad Yatra in Mumbai and neighbouring areas on the charge of flouting Covid-19 guidelines that disallow public gatherings. More Sena-BJP confrontations are expected in the run-up to the civic body elections.
The buck stops with the leaders of both parties. Whenever they fail to exercise restraint themselves, they give their supporters the liberty to go on the rampage. Notwithstanding their bitter rivalry, the Shiv Sena and the BJP should not allow the Rane episode to take its toll on law and order in Maharashtra.
