Shiv Sena slams BJP: Should all unemployed youth fry pakodas or commit suicide at Mantralaya?

Saamana editorial mocks PM Narendra Modi, BJP president Amit Shah, says Mantralaya has become a graveyard of people’s hopes

Following the spate of suicide attempts in Mantralaya, the Shiv Sena launched a scathing attack on the Bharatiya Janata Party-led Maharashtra government on Saturday, through an editorial in its party mouthpiece ‘Saamana’.

The Sena took on the government over the issue of rising unemployment and made a dig at PM Narendra Modi. (HT File Photo)

The state secretariat has become a “graveyard of the hopes and aspirations” of people in Maharashtra, the daily Marathi newspaper said.

“It looks like Mantralaya has become a cemetery. Mantralaya should be a reflection of the hopes and aspirations of its people, but it has become a graveyard of the same hopes and aspirations,” the editorial read.

In sharp criticism of ministers in the current state government, of which the Sena is a part, Saamana said it appears like many “lifeless and apathetic figures” are occupying chairs in most offices. “Some people’s representatives have erected selfie points in their constituencies, but Mantralaya has become a suicide point,” the Marathi daily mocked.

In the last couple of months, there have been four suicide attempts at Mantralaya; and in two of the incidents, two people died. The latest suicide took place on Thursday evening, when a 44-year-old murder convict jumped off the fifth floor of the building and died.

The Sena also took on the government over the problem of rising unemployment and took a dig at Prime Minister Narendra Modi by asking whether the state’s educated, unemployed youngsters should all start frying pakodas (fritters). In his maiden speech in the Rajya Sabha, BJP president Amit Shah had said it was better to sell pakodas than be unemployed, in defence of Modi’s statement.

“The state government has frozen recruitment and worsened unemployment. The prime minister recently said there is no unemployment and that those who are not employed should fry pakodas on roads,” the editorial said. “The government should answer whether all these educated, unemployed people should fry pakodas at its doorstep, or commit suicide at Mantralaya.”