Arrest Thackeray, says Cong

Asked why previous Congress governments had not taken action against Thackeray for similar provocation in the past, Deshmukh said, “Then he was in the opposition and only making noise. Now his party is in government and he is acting on those threats with the government supporting him. What can be tolerated while you are in opposition cannot be given legitimacy while you are in government.”

The party appeared to have secured the support of all other parties in Maharashtra, including the Janata Dal and the Communist parties, whose leaders will join the Congress tomorrow in a meeting with Union Home Minister Inderjit Gupta to apprise him of the law and order situation in the state and seek the Sena-BJP government’s dismissal.

Thackeray’s statement in the party mouthpiece Saamna this morning, justifying yesterday’s attack on leaders of the Opposition Chhagan Bhujbal and Madhukarrao Pichad and, moreover, holding Bhujbal responsible for vitiating the atmosphere with regard to Dalit anger in the State added further fuel to their fire.

Congress leaders interpreted the statements as provocation for further violence and as a threat to them to shut up or further endanger their lives.

Janata Dal legislator Sambhaji Pawar joined Pichad and Narsaiah Adam in describing the act as an attempt to throttle the voice of democracy and said even he had been personally threatened by Sena legislators at Pune yesterday.

The Saamna’s front-paged editorial today attempted to lay the blame for the tense situation in Maharashtra at Bhujbal’s door and indicated that the attack on him was a tit for tat vis-a-vis Bhujbal’s alleged involvement in the desecration of a picture of Thackeray’s wife Meenatai at a Sena shakha in the western suburbs. Challenging the statement Bhujbal said he had the highest regard for Meenatai whom he still regarded as “Mother” despite the fact that he had long since severed connections with the Sena. It was utterly despicable of Thackeray to link him to the acts of vandalism on the day of the Mumbai bandh (Saturday), he said. Besides, he was the leader of the opposition and duty-bound to raise his voice against the atrocities of the government on the common man, he said.

Bhujbal has been charged by Thackeray with inciting Dalit violence by his hugely successful morcha in the city on Wednesday last to protest the government’s demolition of hutments of slum dwellers in north Bombay.

“The people who participated in the morcha were not all Dalits. It was a mixed crowd of affected persons but it was not we who had dishoused them. They (the Sena-BJP) are the rajas, we are the praja and how else will we protest atrocities except by picketing the government. But we have never incited or justified violence,” he said.