The
Indian Express
September 8,
2009
BJP announces stir,
Sena gets into act
EXPRESS NEWS
SERVICE
THE BJP and the Shiv Sena on Monday set about turning the Sangli-Miraj
clash and Gopinath Munde's detention into a poll issue, the former
declaring a statewide agitation against the government, the latter
asking activists across the state to put up posters similar to the
hoarding that had triggered the clash in the first place.
The hoarding had
depicted Bijapur's Islamic warrior Afzal Khan being killed by Shivaji
Maharaj in Sangli-Miraj. The Sena, in its mouthpiece Saamna, urged "Shiv
premis" to display such pictures across the state and "keep the
blazing history of Shivaji alive".
It accused the
Congress-led government of hypocrisy, for planning a giant statue of
Shivaji in the Arabian Sea off the Marine Drive and at the same time
trying to "gag Hindus for displaying the valour of Shivaji".
The party accused
the government of victimising Hindus and appeasing Muslims in the
run-up to the Assembly elections. It asked whether the government
expected Shivaji to have felicitated an invader like Afzal Khan.
For the BJP, Munde
began his journey by road while his partymen declared a statewide
agitation from Tuesday. Effigies of government leaders would be burnt
in protest against their alleged inertness against people targeting
Hindus.
Blaming the
Congress-NCP government for communalising the Ganesh immersion
procession in Miraj, state BJP chief Nitin Gadkari said that there had
been no complaint from Muslims.
"It is the
political interference of the NCP and the Congress that has created
this communal tension for votebank politics. The government is solely
responsible and they cannot stop our leaders who were going to resolve
the crisis," said Gadkari.
He said the
government had played with the sentiments of Hindus and would pay the
price in the elections.
.
.