MUMBAI: Day after the arrest drama of Narayan
Rane
, Shiv Sena went hammer and tongs again at the Union minister, calling him a ‘
suparibaaz
’ and claiming that if someone had made a similar derogatory statement about PM Modi, he would have been slapped with sedition and thrown behind bars.
The party, through an editorial in mouthpiece Saamna, justified arresting Rane, saying he had made a similar offensive remark earlier. “Maharashtra will not tolerate it beyond a certain limit, and the time has come to show it through action,” it said.
Without mentioning the
Elgar Parishad
case, the editorial said: “The erstwhile Fadnavis government put a few intellectuals behind bars only on suspicion of plotting to assassinate PM Narendra Modi. In this case, it is clear Naroba Rane has taken a ‘supari’ (contract). So, should we have to do ‘pooja aarti’ of these ‘suparibaaz’ in
Maharashtra?”
The party appealed to Modi and Union home minister Amit Shah to take Rane’s statement seriously. “Rane has nothing to do with ‘sanskar’ (culture), so even after being a Union cabinet minister, he is making remarks like a roadside gangster. Use of such language about attacking the chief minister of Maharashtra is like an insult to the 105 martyrs,” it said.