BJP propping proxies to corner MVA govt, allege Sena and NCP

Raut has decried Raj, who is chief minister and Shiv Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray’s estranged cousin, of being the BJP’s cat’s paw.

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)?

Police officials stop Shiv Sena workers as they break the barricades and try to enter the residential complex of independent MLA Ravi Rana and MP Navneet Rana at Khar, in response to their challenge of reciting Hanuman Chalisa on the loudspeaker outside CM Uddhav Thackeray's bungalow Matoshree in Mumbai (Pratik Chorge/HT PHOTO)

Several leaders from the ruling Maharashtra Vikas Aghadi (MVA), including home minister Dilip Walse-Patil, Shiv Sena Rajya Sabha MP Sanjay Raut, NCP leader and food and civil supplies minister Chhagan Bhujbal, 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 Bhujbal, a former Shiv Sainik

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. “These proxy spokespersons of the BJP… are being used to confront the MVA,” she added.

“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.

He said that the BJP has similarly supported Gunaratna Sadavarte, who had taken over the leadership of striking state transport workers, actor Kangana Ranaut and anchor Arnab Goswami. Bandatatya Karhadkar, a leader of the warkari sect, had also protested the curbs on the wari (pilgrimage) to the temple town of Pandharpur during the Covid lockdown, and the controversial Sambhajirao Bhide Guruji of the Shivprathisthan Hindustan, had attacked the MVA for its decision to allow the sale of wine in supermarkets. Hindu right-wing groups had also sought the reopening of places of worship when Covid-19 pandemic curbs were in force in Maharashtra.

Desai noted that the Shiv Sena versus 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.