Sena, NCP: BJP using proxies to corner MVA

MUMBAI: Fringe Hindutva groups, Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) president Raj Thackeray, and now, the Rana couple. Is the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) using proxies to highlight the Shiv Sena’s alleged dilution of Hindutva after coming to power in an alliance with “secular” forces like the Congress and the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP)?

Several leaders from the ruling Maharashtra Vikas Aghadi (MVA) have charged that the driving force behind the Ranas was the opposition BJP.

“They want to create this picture (of a law-and-order collapse) and bring in President’s rule… when it is not so… the country knows who is instigating this,” said NCP’s Chhagan Bhujbal, a former Shiv Sainik

Sanjay Raut has also decried Raj, who is chief minister and Shiv Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray’s estranged cousin, of being the BJP’s cat’s paw. Raj has set a deadline of May 3 for loudspeakers to be taken down from mosques and warned that his workers will play the ‘Hanuman Chalisa’ before them. This gradual turn to Hindutva and dilution of the anti-Hindi speaking migrant agenda is seen as clearing the decks for an electoral adjustment between the MNS and the BJP.

“They (BJP) are known for using proxies… they use (central investigating agencies like the) Enforcement Directorate (ED) and Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) and now, hire-by-night politicians,” charged Shiv Sena Rajya Sabha MP Priyanka Chaturvedi. She pointed to how Navneet Kaur Rana had been elected as an independent from the Amravati Lok Sabha constituency with support from the Congress and NCP and had yet switched to the BJP.

“The BJP is running an employment bureau where such people are kept on the rolls,” remarked Shiv Sena legislator Manisha Kayande.

“It is the nature of the BJP to support such people (against its adversaries) and yet stay out of the picture,” noted senior journalist and political analyst Hemant Desai, adding that this helped the party evade responsibility in case things went down the hill.

Desai noted that the Rana confrontation had helped the Sena by mobilising its cadre and also by sidelining Raj and the MNS from the media space. “When it comes to Balasaheb Thackeray (the late Sena supremo) and Matoshree, any criticism touches a chord among the Shiv Sainiks,” he explained.

However, the MNS denied the charge of being propped up by the BJP. “This is an old allegation… that is being made since they cannot reply to the questions asked by Raj saheb,” charged party general secretary Sandeep Deshpande.

“These allegations have no substance. One lady and a man scared them and they had to deploy thousands of Shiv Sainiks. What does this mean?” he scoffed.

BJP spokesperson Keshav Upadhye, however, denied this charge. “The BJP fights for the people’s questions on the road. The BJP does not need to fight its battles using proxy… that the Shiv Sena has ditched Hindutva is evident,” he added.

They (BJP) are known for using proxies… they use ED and CBI and now, hire-by-night politicians

PRIYANKA CHATURVEDI, Shiv Sena MP