Sena (UBT) to join hands with Sambhaji Brigade to counter ‘politics of polarisation’

Mumbai: Shiv Sena (UBT) chief Uddhav Thackeray has decided to join hands with the Sambhaji Brigade faction headed by Manoj Akhare to “counter the politics of polarisation and communal tensions in the state”. Both the organisations have decided to hold joint rallies at district-level across the state and major constituencies of the ruling alliance MLAs.

Thackeray on Friday held a meeting with Sambhaji Brigade leaders at Matoshree to discuss various issues ahead of the upcoming elections.

Besides Sambhaji Brigade president Manoj Akhare and general secretary Saurabh Khedekar, MLA Aaditya Thackeray, leader of the opposition in the legislative council Ambadas Danve and former minister Subhash Desai were present in the meeting. They discussed several issues, including rising incidents of communal tension and threat of polarisation.

According to a Sena (UBT) leader, Thackeray said that they suspect that the BJP was planning to polarise the state and negate the impact of the three opposition parties (Sena (UBT), NCP and Congress) coming together.

Thackeray said, “The BJP is playing politics of polarisation and as a result, incidents of communal tension are increasing in the state. They want to create tension in society and there may be riots. Sambhaji Brigade has the capacity to stop possible riots. In the past, workers of the Sambhaji Brigade have done it successfully. People trust you. So, you should come forward to ensure peace in the state.”

Santosh Shinde, Sambhaji Brigade state coordinator, said, “It was decided to hold a joint rally in the presence of Uddhav Thackeray next month. Later, there will be joint rallies across the state and the major constituencies of the ruling alliance as they may try to create social-religious tension to polarise the voters.”

Previously, Akhare had joined hands with Thackeray after the split in the Shiv Sena.

Sambhaji Brigade is an outfit of youths from the Maratha community. It came to limelight in 2004 after its activists attacked the Bhandarkar Oriental Research Institute (BORI) in Pune alleging that the latter provided research material to American author James Laine for his book, Shivaji: Hindu King in Islamic India, which was banned by the state government for certain remarks over the Maratha king,

Politically, Sambhaji Brigade was closer to the NCP but later it split. Now there are two factions of the outfit. One faction is headed by Akhare, while the other is headed by Pune-based Praveen Gaikwad. The outfit was also aggressive over the issue of Maratha reservation.