Mumbai, January 21: A day after the general strike called by all parties for Vidarbha statehood evoked a spontaneous and overwhelming response in the region, Shiv Sena chief Bal Thackeray has criticised leaders supporting ‘Separate Vidarbha’.
”Leaders from Vidarbha who want to bifurcate Maharashtra
have lost their senses. They are saying that they will go to any length, even seeking Satan’s help, to carve out the state. When they talk about seeking Satan’s help whom they are referring to? Ajmal Kasab, Osama Bin Laden or terrorist organisations such as Lashkar-e-Toiba or Hizbul Mujahideen? Vidarbha separatist leaders should make this clear,” wrote Mr Thackeray in an editorial in the party mouthpiece ‘Saamna’ today.
”Some leaders, like Jambuvantrao Dhote, have brought forward the Vidarbha statehood issue for their own benefit. They are neither concerned about development of Vidarbha nor the welfare of local people,” he alleged.
Mr Dhote had reportedly stated that he would seek Naxalites’ help for ‘Separate Vidarbha’, recently. His statement has shaken other leaders such as Datta Meghe and Vilas Muttemwar. The Naxals have resorted to insurgency not for separate Vidarbha state but for eradication of poverty, unemployment and injustice. Their mutiny would continue till the exploitation continues, but this does not mean that they have been given a permit to kill innocent policemen, the Sena chief said. Similarly, no one has given persons like Dhote the right to quench their political thirst by aiming from the shoulders of these directionless youths.
Taking help from Naxalites for ‘Separate Vidarbha’ is like taking help of Mughal commander Afzal Khan for ‘Hindvi Swarajya’ or Aurangzeb extending his greetings to Shivaji Maharaj on his ‘Rajyabhishek’ (Coronation), he said. ”If Dhote and company are seeking Naxalites help to break the state into two, then eight crore people of Maharashtra will not sit quite and retaliate, and the Sainiks, who carry Chhatrapati Shivaji’s saffron flag, do not need any rental weapons,” Mr Thackeray warned.
——-Agencies