Shiv Sena Supremo Bal Thackeray MUMBAI, July 23: Shiv Sena chief Bal Thackeray has cautioned the media against `glorifying' gangster Arun Gawli as it would `result in creation of a demon, which would cannibalise press freedom'.In an editorial for Sena mouthpiece Saamna today, Thackeray said while attacks on journalists was deplorable, assault on women scribes was a matter of deeper concern.On Monday's attack, allegedly by Gawli goons on Anindita Ramaswamy, a woman journalist of the `Asian Age', Thackeray noted that the Sena-BJP government had acted swiftly by arresting the gangster in his Dagdi Chawl den in central Mumbai. Last week, a woman staffer of the `Express Group' was attacked by Gawli's men, he said.Media was making a mistake by glorifying Gawli as he would ultimately assume the form of the legendary demon `Bhasmasur' that would `pounce upon journalists', he said. During the recent morcha organised by Gawli's outfit `Akhil Bharatiya Sena', activists had warned mediapersons not to describe their leader as an underworld don in future, he added.Thackeray said had Shiv Sainiks been involved in the attack on the `Asian Age' journalist, the issue would have rocked both the state legislature and parliament. But Congress leaders have only shed `crocodile tears and not bothered to wipe these fake teardrops', he observed.The Sena chief said there were three attacks on mediapersons in the current month in Maharashtra but Shiv Sainiks were not involved in any of these incidents.Referring to motivated writings in the press that were provocative and sensational in nature, Thackeray recalled that a woman journalist Manimala was attacked by Sainiks near the Mahim railway station here some years ago and media personalities from across the country had staged a demonstration near the Sena Bhavan.But they dispersed after some `breast beating' and though there were other attacks on the mediapersons including murders in different parts of the country, such a demonstration was not held, he said. He said in Tamil Nadu, during the Jayalalitha regime, a journalist was paraded naked and beaten till he bled, while in Lucknow when Mulayam Singh Yadav was the chief minister, an attack was mounted on the Dainik Jagran there. Citing another example, he said BSP leader Kanshiram had assaulted mediapersons outside his residence in Delhi.In this golden jubilee year of independence, media had a responsible role to play and should refrain from projecting a gangster as a `dharmatma' (upholder of morality) in the interest of Maharashtra and the nation, he said.
