Nilesh Rane threatens to ‘thrash’ Sanjay Raut over cartoon

The cartoon row may escalate into a major controversy as Nilesh Rane, son of senior Congress leader Narayan Rane, has threatened to thrash Shiv Sena leader Sanjay Raut, who is also an editor of Saamana, “wherever he goes”. He has accused Mr Raut of insulting the Maratha community through the cartoon in question.

Nilesh Rane, a former MP from Ratnagiri-Sindhudurg, tweeted that “Wherever Sanjay Raut goes, he will be beaten.”

Despite repeated attempts, Mr Raut remained unavailable for comments on Nilesh Rane’s statement.

Saamana, the Shiv Sena’s mouthpiece on Tuesday, had published a cartoon that allegedly poked fun at the campaign for Maratha reservations that’s being organised in the state.

The cartoon has enraged sections of the Maratha community, which has demanded an apology from Mr Raut.

However, he has so far refrained from it saying that the cartoon was not about Maratha community rallies. “Cartoonist Shrinivas Prabhudesai has tendered unconditional apology on the cartoon issue. It was not intended to hurt the sentiments of Maratha community. While it’s a mistake, there should be a limit on how much the issue should be stretched,” Mr Raut had said.

Meanwhile Congress has alleged that Shiv Sena is adopting double standards by not tendering apology on the cartoon controversy. Naming several earlier issues, Congress said that Sena has a history of hypocrisy in such cases.

Congress spokesperson Sachin Sawant said Shiv Sena’s refusal to apologise over the cartoon has exposed its double standards of making people apologise forcibly.

He hit out at Yuva Sena chief Aaditya Thackeray for saying that the opposition parties politicised the issue.

“In November 2013, the Yuva Sena cadre had made a principal of KPB Hinduja College give a written apology for asking ‘Who Aaditya Thackeray ’ In 2010, Aaditya had forced Mumbai University to withdraw a book ‘Such a Long Journey’ from Rohinton Mistry from its curriculum just because it contained criticism of Shiv Sena. After the death of Balasaheb Thackeray, two girls were attacked by Sena for their anti remarks on social media,” said Mr Sawant.

“People of the state will teach Shiv Sena a lesson for refusing to apologise for the cartoon lampooning the Maratha community,’ he said.