Saamna targets Gujaratis, Thackerays issue clarification a day after


Mumbai, 3 May, 2014

On foundation day of Maharashtra and Gujarat states, Shiv Sena’s mouthpiece Saamna published a strong editorial criticising Gujaratis for being partial with Maharashtra(Saamna’s dubious man at job Sanjay Raut to blame for this). On Friday Shiv Sena did a turn.

Samana’s editorial criticised Gujaratis and said Gujaratis came out to support BJP prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi, which they never do for the state where they live in.

Uddhav Thackeray, the president of the Shiv Sena, is also editor of “Saamna”.

Uddhav Thackeray on Friday issued a statement saying, “Someone is deliberately trying to create (a) rift between Marathi and Gujarati communities, which unitedly voted for Modi in the Lok Sabha elections.”

Uddhav Thackeray’s son Aditya Thackeray put out a clarification on Twitter on same issue. He even asked people to retweet and spread the word.

In the clarification, Aditya stated that his statements from editorial were completely misconstrued with wrong translations. He also said that there was no lashing out and that the editorial sought for bringing together both the communities.

The piece ended with Aditya stating that there would be many more attempts to break this unity and that both the communities should strenghten the bond and love.

In an editorial, the Shiv Sena had apparently accused the Gujarati community of exploiting Mumbai to earn wealth and criticised it for a lack of sense of belonging to the city and Maharashtra.

An editorial said: “The Gujarati and other bepari (trader) communities in Maharashtra which united with pride as Gujaratis for (Narendra Modi) must now come together for Shivray’s (Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj) Maharashtra and join in the celebrations on Maharashtra’s foundation day………..Staying in Mumbai, they enjoyed wealth. They minted money… those who were penniless exploited Mumbai, Maharashtra and built their own Dwarka of gold and are calling the shots in the country’s power politics based on this wealth generated from Mumbai. They are chalking out plans on who is to be made the prime minister and who is to be deposed……………But, how many beparis come down from their skyscrapers to participate in the Maharashtra Day celebrations and repay their obligation to Maharashtra?