Lashing out at chief minister Devendra Fadnavis over the state government’s “mishandling” of the Maratha reservation protests, the Shiv Sena questioned the state’s response to the crisis.
“Chief Minister Fadnavis plays a one-man show in all matters. But, one doesn’t know where he was in the past 24-hours and with whom he was consulting. During the 1992 riots, the Sudhakarrao Naik government was similarly helpless. Maharashtra cannot afford this helplessness,” said an editorial in Thursday in Shiv Sena’s mouthpiece Saamna.
Pointing to protestors clashing with the police and attacking them in Satara, Aurangabad and Navi Mumbai, the editorial accused the Fadnavis government of “running away” from the situation.
“The upsurge in Maharashtra is unfortunate and all attempts must be made to quell it,” the editorial said, adding that the intensity of Wednesday’s bandh had driven home the extent of anger among the protestors.
Noting that Fadnavis had offered to negotiate with representatives of the Sakal Maratha Samaj, the Shiv Sena questioned why the state government had failed to take note of Maratha protestors who were on a sit-in protest for a week at Parli in Marathwada. It added that such an outreach during the period would have prevented the situation from taking a violent turn.
“The BJP comes forth to take credit for everything. Similarly, they must take credit for yesterday’s bandh and Maharashtra being set aflame but resolve the Maharashtra reservation issue,” said the Shiv Sena. It also criticised NCP chief Sharad Pawar and the erstwhile Congress- NCP government for failing to take the Maratha quota demand to its logical end.
