Miffed by its senior ruling partner’s disapproval of its questionable protest against Pakistani ghazal singer Ghulam Ali’s concert and its Monday’s paint attack on Sudheendra Kulkarni, the Shiv Sena on Wednesday drove a further wedge in its long-standing alliance with the BJP, by raking up the 2002 post-Godhra Gujarat riots issue in the context of Narendra Modi saying that the Prime Minister’s comment on its opposition to Ghulam Ali’s concert was “unfortunate”.
As the Maharashtra BJP swiftly rubbished Shiv Sena spokesperson Sanjay Raut’s comments linking Modi to the post-Godhra riots in Gujarat as “dirty and childish”, the Sena’s act of brinkmanship threatened to turn into a crisis between the two saffron alliance partners, in the run-up to the Devendra Fadnavis Government completing its one year in office on October 31.
Though the informed sources in the ruling alliance insisted the latest stand-off between the two saffron partners would figure at a meeting called on Thursday by the BJP to deliberate on its achievements of the Devendra Fadnavis Government during its first year in office, Maharashtra BJP spokesperson Madhav Bhandari told The Pioneer here in the evening: “At Thursday’s meeting, there will not be any discussion on our alliance with the Shiv Sena. let me say categorically that the latest developments (between the two parties) will have no bearing on the stability of our Government in the State”.
Known for harsh at times reckless comments, Raut ticked off the BJP, by referring to Modi in the context of the 2002 post-Godhra riots in Gujarat, while reacting to the Prime Minister’s comments on the lynching of a man over in Dadri over rumours of storing and eating beef and the opposition to Pakistani singer Ghulam Ali’s concert in Mumbai.
In a published interview to a Bengali daily, the Prime Minister had said earlier in the day: “The Dadri incident or the opposition to Pakistani ghazal singer Ghulam Ali are sad and undesirable. But what is the role of the Central Government in these incidentsIJ”.
Reacting to Modi’s comments, Raut said: “If Narendra Modi came to be known across India and the world, it was because of the riots in Godhra and Ahmedabad. From the events then, Modi came to be acknowledged as a staunch Hindutva champion and that he was a leader next only to Balasaheb Thackeray when it came to fighting for the Hindutva cause. It is because of that the Shiv Sena respected Modi and continues to respect him. That is the Narendra Modi. we (the Shiv Sena) have always looked up to him. Whatever Modi has spoken today, he has done so in his capacity as the Prime Minister. Had he spoken like Narendra Modi, I am sure he would have spoken differently”.
Raut, who had initially spoken to a new agency, clarified that his comments were in the context of the Prime Minister’s remarks on the “opposition” to Ghulam Ali’s concert and that he had not said anything on Modi’s remarks on the Dadri incident.
In a clarification issued later in the day, the Shiv Sena stated: “The news agency concerned has wrongly quoted Sanjay Raut. Raut had clearly stated that the PM’s remarks on the boycott of Pak nationals in India, being unfortunate, during a time of unease at the lOC and constant attempts of terrorist attacks is truly unfortunate.
Neither is there any remote mention of Dadri nor has the Sena supported that highly unfortunate incident in Dadri, that shouldn’t have happened”.
Rebutting Raut’s remarks on the Prime Minister’s reported comments, Maharashtra BJP spokesperson Madhav Bhandari said: “Whatever the Prime Minister spoke was mainly in the context of the Dadri incident. If someone disagrees with the Prime Minister’s remarks, it is their look-out. We are not at all bothered”.
However, on the issue of Raut linking Modi to the 2002 post-Godhra riots in Gujarat, Bhandari said: “Modi is known all over the country and world for the excellent development work done in Gujarat. It is because of Gujarat’s model of development the people in the country have reposed confidence in Modi and made him the Prime Minister. Modi has no other identity than the one he earned by him because of his Gujarat model of development”.
“As far as Raut’s effort to refer Prime Minister Modi in some other context is concerned, it is both dirty and childish on the part of my Sena counterpart to have made such remarks,” Bhandari said.