The pro-Maratha Sambhaji Brigade has warned Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) chief Raj Thackeray against “disturbing” communal harmony with his provocative speeches and has urged the Maharashtra Government to take proactive steps to prevent a potential law and order situation in the State following the MNS chief’s ultimatum to remove loudspeakers from mosques before May 3.
Exhorting the tripartite Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) coalition of the Shiv Sena, the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) and the Congress to take concrete action against the MNS, Sambhaji Brigade leader Santosh Shinde said that Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray (Mr. Raj Thackeray’s estranged cousin) and Home Minister Dilip Walse-Patil must slap a notice on the MNS chief if the government was serious about nipping potential communal disturbances in the bud.
“Apart from criticism of Raj Thackeray’s inflammatory speeches, the MVA leadership doesn’t seem serious in squelching a possible riot. It must alert the police machinery before MNS activists start causing serious trouble after their leader’s rabble-rousing speeches,” Mr. Shinde said, accusing the MNS chief of playing the communal card in a bid to revive his sagging political fortunes.
