Political row intensifies after Sena (UBT) woman worker beaten up

Mumbai : A woman functionary from the Shiv Sena (UBT) was allegedly beaten up in Thane’s Kasarwadavali locality by 20 to 25 men and women from Chief Minister Eknath Shinde’s faction on Monday evening. The victim, Roshni Shinde, who is presently in a Thane hospital, said she was assaulted for a reply to a Facebook post by a person from the chief minister’s faction. The assault was caught on camera and went viral on Tuesday night, but the police refused to register a complaint.

Speaking to reporters from her hospital bed, Shinde said, “It was a regular message on social media. I was not targeting anyone personally. I also apologised for my comment in the messaging group at around 3 pm. But later in the evening, 20 to 25 men and women from the Shinde faction came to my workplace and started arguing with me. They then asked me to make an apology video. I did that too but they attacked me later.”

After hearing of the incident, Uddhav Thackeray rushed to Thane with wife Rashmi Thackeray and son MLA Aaditya Thackeray to boost the morale of his party workers. Hitting out at Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis, he called him a ‘fadtus’ (useless) home minister and demanded his resignation.

A fuming Thackeray slammed the Shinde-Fadnavis government and demanded the suspension or transfer of the Thane police commissioner for succumbing to political pressure and not registering an FIR. “A Supreme Court judge called the state government “impotent”, and now we have seen that in Thane,” he said. “As for the chief minister, the question arises whether he is a mukhya mantri or goonda mantri (chief minister or goon minister). Women workers attacking other women… what is happening to our culture, state, this city of cultured people?” The MVA has planned a protest march in Thane on Wednesday afternoon against the police inaction.

Thackeray alleged that Fadnavis remained silent even when BJP workers were “brutally beaten up” by Shinde supporters. “In a case related to his family (the Amruta Fadnavis blackmailing case), the accused were arrested from other states. But in other cases, the police don’t take action against Shinde supporters. If Fadnavis cannot handle the home department, he should resign,” he said, warning that his party workers had the strength to root out hooliganism not just in Thane but in the entire state.

Maharashtra NCP president Jayant Patil remarked that violence had no place in the politics of Maharashtra. “Earlier, a journalist was threatened and now the attack on this woman shows the mindset of this government,” he said. “Fadnavis has no say and no powers when it comes to Thane. Everything is controlled by CM Shinde. I dare Fadnavis to change all the police officers at least in Thane city in the next 48 hours (to prove his powers as the home minister).”

The BJP, on its part, hit back at Thackeray and reminded him of the ‘poor law-and-order situation’ when he was chief minister. “After seeing two and a half years of the MVA regime, the whole of Maharashtra knows who is useless,” said Fadnavis. “Thackeray failed to sack his jailed ministers. The police were extorting money during the MVA rule and they were happy to stand by (jailed police officer) Sachin Vaze. After being elected in the name of Narendra Modi, they latched on to the opposition parties.”

The Shinde faction accused the Thackeray camp of defaming it by using “innocent workers like Roshni”. “The comments were made at the behest of the party leadership, which does not have guts to come out openly against us,” said party spokesperson Naresh Mhaske.

Kasarwadavali senior police inspector Rajesh Babshetty said, “We have asked for Roshni’s medical report. Once we have it, a case will be lodged based on it. Meanwhile, we have also initiated an inquiry into this matter. As of now, no FIR has been lodged.”