Shiv Sena(UBT) accuses Centre of dictatorial tactics amid Oppn protests in ‘Saamana’
Mumbai, Oct 13 (IANS) The Shiv Sena Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray on Tuesday criticised the Central and state leadership, accusing them of creating a civil-war-like, anarchic situation across the country.
The Thackeray camp in the party’s mouthpiece, ‘Samaana’, condemned the alleged police brutality against ‘peaceful’ student protesters, youth, and women in Delhi and Mumbai, while sharply criticising Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Home Minister Amit Shah for their “silence and apathy”.
The editorial said that the country is witnessing an atmosphere akin to a civil war, with Delhi transformed into a massive police station where children and young girls are being shamelessly beaten. Despite Supreme Court directives stating that police should not use batons on protesters when there is no rioting, police forces in Delhi and Mumbai have reportedly behaved high-handedly, subjecting peaceful satyagrahis to brutal force. In Delhi, women satyagrahis and journalists faced ruthless behaviour, with allegations that male police personnel molested and manhandled them. Prominent political figures, including MP John Brittas, CPI General Secretary M.A. Baby, and Kerala opposition leader P. Vijayan, were dragged, beaten, and stuffed into prison vans while participating in a peaceful satyagraha, said the Saamana editorial.
The editorial further stated that similar tactics reportedly spread to Mumbai, where students and numerous female college students staging a satyagraha near Shivaji Park were cruelly dragged and forced into police vans.
The Uddhav Thackeray-led Shiv Sena accused Home Minister Amit Shah of “crushing” Supreme Court orders and “unleashing brute force on peaceful protesters”, claiming these actions are fuelling public anger against the Prime Minister. It criticised Prime Minister Modi for visiting Chennai to review metro presentations and deliver lectures on development instead of uttering a single word over the unrest.
The Thackeray camp accused Home Minister Amit Shah of “staying sequestered behind armed guards, ignoring public uprisings and police crackdowns, and instead celebrating by distributing sweets on social media over the BJP’s by-election victories in states like West Bengal and Puducherry”.
The editorial launched a severe attack on the nation’s prominent award-winning personalities — holders of honours like Bharat Ratna, Padma Shri, Padma Bhushan, Jnanpith, and Sahitya Akademi awards — as well as film and theatre celebrities, comparing them to submissive artists dancing to the tune of power.
Drawing a parallel to the silence of intellectuals and artists during the eras of Hitler and Mussolini, the editorial quoted writer Harishankar Parsai, stating that the country’s intellectuals are “nominal tigers who merely play band in a jackal’s wedding”.
“While actors and public figures deliver heavy dialogues on screen, they zip their mouths when the nation faces a crisis, acting as beneficiaries of the government just like beneficiaries of welfare schemes”, claimed the editorial.
In contrast, the editorial praised figures like Prakash Raj, Naseeruddin Shah, and Jaya Bachchan, along with former cricketer Sanjay Manjrekar — who voiced opposition to police high-handedness — as showing true spirit and greater nationalism.
The Thackeray camp warned that treating these opportunistic celebrities as neutral when a political shift occurs would be an ultimate betrayal of the youth who are currently suffering under police oppression and fighting against dictatorship.
The editorial concluded by declaring that “intellectuals who silently watch such atrocities are enemies of society and of no use to the nation”.
–IANS
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