The mystery of who writes the caustic editorials in Shiv Sena mouthpiece Saamna that occasionally kick up dust and raise political temperatures has been finally resolved.
Saamna editorials are routinely and formally attributed to Sena supremo Bal Thackeray. That Bal Thackeray only inspires these and never actually gets round to writing them has been whispered for long.
When Bal Thackeray's estranged nephew Raj Thackeray said last year that the Sena leader “never writes” Saamna editorials he laid bare what was even before the party's worst-kept secret. But he sparked off a lively debate for some time on who was the real writer.
The heated debate was revived in political and media circles after Saamana's controversial comment October 24 on the results of the recent assembly elections. The October 24 editorial said: “I never expected that the Maharashtians for whom the Sena made huge cry for 44 years would ignore the Sena in the election and would stab us in the back.”
After this created a huge unrest among Maharashtrians, Bal Thackeray cleared the air at a meeting of party MLAs on Thursday. Denying that he wrote it, he asked Saamana’s executive editor Sanjay Raut whether he did.
Raut proclaimed himself to be its author but pleaded not guilty. He confirmed he wrote it but said, “I said that Maharashtrians turned their back on the Sena. I did not say that they stabbed the party in the back. The media misinterpreted it.”
Raut's confirmation too was no stunning revelation. It has been known for some time that while Bal Thackeray is the thinker, Raut is the writer. A Sena insider said: “In the earlier days of Marmik, Balasaheb's father Prabodhankar Thackeray used to write the editorials.
Balasaheb would tell him the topic and line of the party and Dada put it into words. After some years, Marmik executive editor Pandharinath Sawant did the job for Balasaheb. Now, Sanjay Raut has taken over the mantle.”
“Normally, Raut reads out the editorial to Balasaheb and gets his approval,” he said, adding: “It seems there was a communication gap in the case of this particular editorial.”
Sena executive chief Uddhav Thackeray had agreed with the editorial but as sources said the party leader's son was in no psotion to publicly disagree with it.
