Politics gone to head, rues Shiv Sena

In a sharp retort to BJP’s warning of burning the Shiv Sena mouthpiece Saamana the party said doing so would mean like setting ablaze Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh’s (RSS) ideology and Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s basic ideas. The Shiv Sena also alleged that the BJP’s politics is based on spreading falsehood and rumours and that the party, from Delhi to Maharashtra is trying to stifle the voices of those who try to speak the truth.

Irate Shiv Sena cadres had last week resorted to burning effigies of chief spokesperson of state BJP, Madhav Bhandari, over his controversial article in party publication Manogat. Referring to the incident, party’s Mumbai unit president Ashish Shelar, without naming Shiv Sena or its mouthpiece had said that the BJP too had democratic rights to protest against what they felt maligned the image of their leaders and the BJP cadres too could resort to burning of the newspaper.

“Politics has become murky. Everybody has the right to criticise but the voices of those trying to speak the truth are being stifled right from Delhi to Maharashtra. This is an example of politics going into the head,” the Sena said in an editorial in Saamana.

The Sena, without naming Mr Shelar said that those who are trying to challenge the Sena are in a way burning their own clothes. “These are people who create a bazaar of rumours and sell dreams in them. It is a crime to spread rumours. But their (BJP’s) politics is based on spreading falsehood and rumours. If they talk of burning Saamana, they should remember it is like burning the idea of Hindutva and the RSS’s ideology along with PM Modi’s basic ideas,” it said.