In yet another attempt to form a coalition to take on the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) at the Centre, Shiv Sena MP Sanjay Raut on Sunday said that a conference of non-BJP Chief Ministers was likely to be held in Mumbai in the coming days to discuss the prevailing political situation in the country.
Mr. Raut, the chief spokesperson of his party as well as executive editor of the Sena’s mouthpiece Saamana, said that Trinamool Congress (TMC) chief and West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee had recently written in this regard to the CMs of States where the BJP is not in power.
“Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) chief Sharad Pawar and Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray have discussed this and efforts are on to hold such a conference in Mumbai,” Mr. Raut informed.
The agenda would be a number of issues ranging from rising unemployment, the alleged misuse of Central probe agencies, and attempts to create communal discord, among other things, the Sena leader said.
In December 2021, Ms. Banerjee had paid a similar visit to Mumbai with the object of trying to stitch up an alliance against the BJP. Ms. Banerjee had met with Mr. Pawar and Sena leaders like Aaditya Thackeray and Mr. Raut as Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray was unwell at the time. However, with no love lost between the TMC and the Congress (a partner in the MVA coalition), and the perception being that the TMC wanted to form an anti-BJP coalition without the Congress, the results of the meeting came a cropper.
In February this year, Telangana Chief Minister K. Chandrashekar Rao met Mr. Thackeray and Mr. Pawar with a similar object and called for “a big change” in the way the country was being run by the BJP-led Centre.
Meanwhile, Mr. Raut lashed out at the BJP by accusing it of trying to win elections by fostering religious hatred.
Alleging that the riots that had occurred in the ten States due for polls in 2023 on the occasion of Ram Navami on April 10 had been fostered by the BJP, Mr. Raut said that the processions taken out during Ram Navami and Hanuman Jayanti were being “politically sponsored” to polarise the electorate.
“The BJP’s strategy seems to be to win elections at any cost by sowing communal discord and that it did not affect them if the country went to pieces,” he said in his weekly column ‘ Rokhthok’ in the Saamana.
Given the BJP’s taunts at the Sena — its erstwhile and since estranged saffron partner — over the latter having forsaken Hindutva since the Sena’s alliance with the Congress and the NCP, Mr. Raut hit back remarking that stoking communal fires in name of Lord Ram was an insult to the idea of Ram and could not be termed Hindutva.
“Even Lord Ram will be restless over the developments in Madhya Pradesh’s Khargone,” the Sena leader said.
Remarking that while processions taken out on the occasion of Ram Navami used to be about faith and tradition, this was the first time that huge processions were taken out in some States where people were seen roaming about brandishing swords and fostering communal discord.
“Why should all the violence take place on Ram Navami? Can anyone believe Muslims will hurl stones at a Ram Navami procession in Gujarat, the home State of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union Home Minister Amit Shah?” Mr. Raut asked, referring to violence in Sabarkantha.
Prior to the tensions during Ram Navami, Mr. Raut said, the Gudi Padwa (Marathi new year) festival on April 2 was celebrated across Maharashtra with no incident.
“Many processions during Gudi Padwa passed through Muslim localities without incident,” he noted, implying that the tripartite MVA stood for communal harmony as opposed to the BJP.
In a thinly veiled barb directed at Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) chief Raj Thackeray, Mr. Raut again dubbed him as ‘Maharashtra’s Owaisi’ (after the All India Majlis-E-Ittehadul Muslimeen or AIMIM leader Asaduddin Owaisi).
Commenting on Mr. Thackeray’s aggressive stance seeking the removal of loudspeakers from mosques by May 3, Mr. Raut said: “In Maharashtra too, a ‘Hindu Owaisi’ is making efforts to spoil the peace on Hanuman Jayanti. But despite concerted efforts, their attempts amounted to nothing.”
The Sena leader suggested that while the issue of loudspeakers could have been discussed by sending proposals to the government, the MNS’ intention was to create a law and order situation in order to facilitate the BJP’s wish for imposing President’s Rule in Maharashtra.
