Shiv Sena took a swipe at Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis saying that in order to declare "Bharat Mata Ki Jai", people "need to be alive."
Mumbai:
Zing. The Shiv Sena has just taken an industrial-strength swipe at Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis saying that in order to declare "Bharat Mata Ki Jai", people "need to be alive."
Doubly-loaded remark: it takes on the Chief Minister who has said those not willing to say the patriotic slogan should relocate abroad and it targets Mr Fadnavis over the drought that has dried up large parts of Maharashtra.
A stranger to Indian politics might be forgiven for thinking that the Sena is an opposition party. In fact, it is the junior partner in the coalition government in Maharashtra, a status that has served in no way as a restraint on constant carping about the policies of the BJP, either at the state or the national level (the Sena is also a constituent of the PM's national coalition).
The write-up makes it clear that the Sena is in no way opposed to "Bharat Mata Ki Jai" or the Chief Minister's emphasis on it. The slogan has divided the government and its critics, who say the phrase is not secular and is wrongly being used by the BJP to gauge an individual's patriotism.
Drought has left Maharashtra's farmers in deep despair; water is being rationed heavily across the state; in some areas, riots over the limited supply of water have led the police to ban groups from gathering near tanks and reservoirs.
The Bombay High Court will rule today on whether nearly 20 matches of the IPL, the domestic 20/20 cricket tournament, should be relocated because of the amount of water- nearly 60 lakh litres - that is being used to water pitches.
Doubly-loaded remark: it takes on the Chief Minister who has said those not willing to say the patriotic slogan should relocate abroad and it targets Mr Fadnavis over the drought that has dried up large parts of Maharashtra.
A stranger to Indian politics might be forgiven for thinking that the Sena is an opposition party. In fact, it is the junior partner in the coalition government in Maharashtra, a status that has served in no way as a restraint on constant carping about the policies of the BJP, either at the state or the national level (the Sena is also a constituent of the PM's national coalition).
The write-up makes it clear that the Sena is in no way opposed to "Bharat Mata Ki Jai" or the Chief Minister's emphasis on it. The slogan has divided the government and its critics, who say the phrase is not secular and is wrongly being used by the BJP to gauge an individual's patriotism.
Drought has left Maharashtra's farmers in deep despair; water is being rationed heavily across the state; in some areas, riots over the limited supply of water have led the police to ban groups from gathering near tanks and reservoirs.
The Bombay High Court will rule today on whether nearly 20 matches of the IPL, the domestic 20/20 cricket tournament, should be relocated because of the amount of water- nearly 60 lakh litres - that is being used to water pitches.
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