In a high-voltage drama that set the ruling Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) and the Opposition BJP in Maharashtra on a collision course, Union Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises Minister Narayan Rane was on Tuesday arrested by the Ratnagiri police over his “tight-slap-slur” remarks against Maharashtra Chief Minister and Shiv Sena president Uddhav Thackeray.
Amid reports of clashes between the Shiv Sena and BJP workers at some places in the State, 69-year-old BJP leader Rane — who was inducted into the Narendra Modi Cabinet last month — was arrested by police at Sangameshwar in Ratnagiri district in coastal Konkan region during his ongoing “Jan Aashirwad Yatra” in connection with the four FIRs filed against for his remarks made against the Chief Minister at public meeting on Monday.
With the local court having rejected his anticipatory bail, Rane had approached the Bombay High Court for relief. However, the High Court rejected Rane’s request for an urgent hearing on his petition for protection from the arrest.
He was granted bail hours later after he cited his health and argued that he was arrested without proper notice on “politically motivated” charges.
The Minister was arrested while he was having his meal, shortly after the Bombay High Court rejected his request for an urgent hearing.
Cases were registered against the BJP leader at Mahad as well as at Nashik and Pune as his remark set off angry protests by workers of the ruling Shiv Sena.
Being seen as the first-ever arrest of a Union Minister in over two decades, police action against Rane has precipitated the political atmosphere in Maharashtra, where the Union Minister had ticked the ruling Shiv Sena off by visiting the Bal Thackeray memorial at Shivaji Park before launching the “Jan Aashirwad Yatra” on Thursday.
So much so that the Shiv Sainiks had “purified” the Thackeray edifice hours after Rane’s visit there.
Talking to media persons during the course of “Jan Aashirwad Yatra”, Rane had slammed the Chief Minister by saying, “What kind of a Chief Minister we have? He does not know anything about our Independence Day. He does not know many years have gone by since India got Independence. Had I been there, I would have given him a tight slap.”
Rane’s arrest came after at least four FIRs were registered at Nashik, Pune, Raigad and Thane against Rane on Tuesday over his questionable remarks made against the chief minister on Monday.
Rane was taken into custody by a team of police led by Ratnagiri’s Superintendent of Police Dr Mohit Kumar Garg at Sangmeshwar, amid vehement protests by his two sons - former MP Dr Nilesh Rane and MLA Nitesh Rane, BJP MLC Prasad Lad and local party leader Pramod Jathar. Rane was reportedly was having lunch when he was taken in to custody.
On his part, Rane had said ahead of his arrest that he had not committed any crime. “I will not comment on reports….I don’t know whether there is an FIR against me and not one has told me….I have committed no crime,” he said. Rane had also threatened action against media if it maligned its image.
“I have been in politics for 52 years….I know the relevant sections of law and know what constitutes an offence or not…Is it not a crime is someone does not know about 15 August? I had said I would have slapped…these were my words and this is not crime,” he said.
Meanwhile, security has been beefed up across Maharashtra to avoid any clash between Shiv Sainiks and Rane’s supporters.
Condemning Rane’s arrest, BJP president Jagat Prakash Nadda said, “The arrest of Narayan Rane by the Maharashtra Government is unconstitutional…we will not be frightened by such arrests. The Jan Aashirwad Yatra is receiving tremendous response. We will fight it out democratically.”
Rane’s statement had triggered angry reactions among the rank and file of the Shiv Sena, its allies NCP and Congress in the MVA Government. Known for their aggression, the Shiv Sainkis took to streets earlier in the day at several places across the State to protest against Rane’s remarks against their leader and lodged FIRs against Union Minister at several places.
In a related development, the ruling Shiv Sena has demanded that Rane be removed from the Union Cabinet.
Shiv Sena leader and MP from Ratnagiri-Sindhdurg constituency Vinayak Raut wrote to Prime Minister Narendra Modi and demanded Rane’s removal from the union council-of-ministers, into which he the BJP Rajya Sabha MP has been recently inducted.
“Rane does not deserve to remain in the Cabinet because of the kind of language he has used against a Chief Minister,” Raut stated in his letter.
In the letter, Raut quoted Rane as saying, “Yeh kaisa mukhya mantri hai, jisko apne desh ka swantrata diwas pata nahi…agar mai waha hota toh kaan ke neeche thappad laga deta”
“Such kind of language is an insult to the Prime Minister as well...I believe a person like Rane, who forgets the post he is representing, has no right to continue on it. It is my humble request to you to seek his resignation and remove him from your cabinet,” Raut wrote.
Meanwhile, the ruling NCP and the Congress joined the Shiv Sena in castigating Rane for his remarks against the Chief Minister.
Describing Rane’s statement as “unfortunate”, NCP chief spokesperson and State’s Minority Affairs Minister Nawab Malik said, “This is the kind of statement against a Chief Minister.. The BJP is trying to pursue politics in Maharashtra akin to what they did in West Bengal. It is unfortunate,” Malik said.
State Congress general secretary and spokesperson Sachin Sawant said the statement of Rane showed the desperation of the BJP. “They have tried everything and failed. The MVA government remains stable. We were in the opposition earlier. But we never used such language against then Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis,” Sawant said.
Controversy is not new to Rane. He has come a long way since he began career as a “shakha pramukh’ (local ward chief) in the Shiv Sena.
Having been associated with the Shiv Sena since the early seventies, Rane had emerged as a senior leader in the party and was made the chief minister of Maharashtra, a post he held between February 1, 1999 and October 17, 1999, when the Sena-BJP alliance was ruling the state.
However, after he rebelled against the leadership of then party’s executive president Uddhav Thackeray, Rane was expelled from the Shiv Sena on July 3, 2005. He joined the Congress on July 30, 2005, expecting that one day he would be made a chief minister of the state - a dream that remained unfulfilled.
It may be recalled that after being in the Congress for 12-long years, Rane had quit the Sonia Gandhi party on September 21, 2017 after complaining that the party leadership had failed to fulfil its repeated promise of appointing him as the chief minister.
Subsequently, Rane floated a new political outfit “Maharashtra Swabhiman Paksha” (MSP) on October 1, 2017. The MSP joined the BJP-led NDA. Sr Rane was elected to Rajya Sabha with the support of the BJP on March 15, 2018. After merging his party with the BJP, Rane finally joined the BJP on October 15, 2019. He was inducted into the Union Cabinet on July 7, 2021.