No record of Hridaynath Mangeshkar being sacked from AIR, PM must not lie: Shiv Sena leader Sanjay Raut
Regarding Modi’s controversial remarks on migrant workers from Maharashtra spreading Covid-19 in the first wave, Raut said that Maharashtra performed the best to tackle the outbreak
Mumbai: The Shiv Sena continued its attack on prime minister Narendra Modi over his speeches in the Parliament, saying a person holding a Constitutional post must not lie. Sena leader Sanjay Raut took exception to two points from Modi’s speeches, including Maharashtra being a super-spreader of coronavirus and about Hridaynath Mangeshkar, the brother of late Lata Mangeshkar, being sacked by All India Radio (AIR) for presenting poetry by Vinayak Damodar Savarkar.
Speaking in the Rajya Sabha on Tuesday, Modi had listed instances of past Congress governments muzzling the freedom of expression and cited Hridaynath Mangeshkar being sacked from AIR. Raut said there was no such record of the so-called sacking.
“It was said in Parliament that Hridaynath Mangeshkar lost his job [in All India Radio] for presenting a song by Veer Savarkar... The song was popularised by Akashvani. How much would one person lie? It is a convention that at least, a person holding a Constitutional post should not lie,” said Raut.
Raut said that the PM may have his eyes on the upcoming Goa Assembly polls, considering the Mangeshkar family traces its roots to Goa, which is scheduled to go to polls on February 14. Shiv Sena is contesting elections in Goa in an alliance with the Nationalist Congress Party.
“According to my information, there is no such record [of sacking]. I heard a statement from Mahesh Keluskar, an AIR official for 36 years, on this issue; he was also surprised. If a music composer was sacked over a song then why would Akashvani play that song? I have heard that song for several years,” Raut added.
Regarding Modi’s controversial remarks on migrant workers from Maharashtra spreading Covid-19 in the first wave, Raut said that Maharashtra performed the best to tackle the outbreak. “They said Maharashtra was a super-spreader of coronavirus. Maharashtra did the best work in tackling Covid-19. The rivers and seas in Maharashtra weren’t filled with corpses. How much would you lie? At least one BJP leader in Maharashtra should have expressed unhappiness over it. Is this your love and loyalty towards Maharashtra?” Raut asked BJP leaders in Maharashtra.
Responding to Raut, Maharashtra BJP president Chandrakant Patil said that the sheer number of cases and fatalities brought ignominy to the state in the first two waves of coronavirus. “Maharashtra alone had more Covid-19 cases than 60 small nations. They (Shiv Sena) said that Mumbai did not see bodies flowing in the river, but 24 people were cremated on one pyre in Maharashtra. Are you conveniently forgetting?”
Patil said that chief minister Uddhav Thackeray should have been made to apologise for the state’s inability to contain the spread of coronavirus leading to deaths and insufficient infrastructure for the people. “The government could not give confidence to migrant workers that they would be taken care of. Instead, they were asked to go to their native states, so they began then long walk. Then Modi ji, who is sensitive, started the trains. Maharashtra was defamed when it had the most number of cases and deaths in Covid-19, not after what Modi ji said,” Patil responded.