The arrest of high profile personalities is always the centre of attention. In this case, the arrested person is a union minister. Narayan Rane got arrested on Tuesday over his derogatory comment on the chief minister of Maharashtra, Uddhav Thackeray. A month ago, Rane recently got a place as a cabinet minister in the BJP led government at the centre.
Narayan Rane is the union minister for Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSME). Reportedly, he said that he ‘would have slapped Uddhav Thackeray’ given the Maharashtra chief minister’s negligent attitude towards the year of Indian independence day.
Yesterday, while attending his Jan Ashirwad Yatra in the Raigad district, Rane said, “It is shameful that the chief minister does not know the year of independence. He leaned back to enquire about the count of years of independence during his speech. Had I been there, I would have given (him) a tight slap.”
Rane’s anticipatory bail plea was rejected in a court located in Ratnagiri district. Additionally, a total of four FIRs have been registered against him for his remark. The FIRs are filed by the youth wing of the Shiv Sena party, ‘Yuva Sena’ in Pune; another one in Nashik and the rest two in Mahad, Raigad district. The Pune FIR claims the offences of defamation and incitement of violence.
The minister challenged the FIRs in the Bombay High Court. His lawyer, Aniket Nikam has sought an urgent mentioning in the court. However, the bench of Justices NJ Jamadar and SS Shinde refused to hear it. They mentioned that Nikam needs to file a praecipe in accordance with the legal procedure.
Opposition Reacts To The Arrest of Narayan Rane
Earlier in the court, Rane’s advocate Nikam says, “The police have arrived to arrest him, they are waiting at his doorstep. He has been put under arrest without being given a notice under section 41A of the CrPC. Offences are punishable with less than 7 years.”
Justice Shinde responded, “Please follow the procedure. Don’t make us do the job of the registry. We cannot interfere with the procedure of the registry. If there is an urgency we will list the matter on the next day.”
The Nashik city police team has arrested Narayan Rane after the latter exhausted all of his legal options. District magistrate B.N. Patil confirmed his arrest. Shiv Sena supporters rejoiced on hearing Rane’s arrest, whereas BJP is expressing disapproval. Both party’s workers were also involved in a stone-pelting incident against each other.
The former chief minister of Maharashtra, Devendra Fadnavis said, “We do not support Narayan Rane’s statements. But looking at the way the government is using police force to act in a lawless manner, we will support Rane as an individual and the whole party is with him. Two FIRs have been registered against Rane and a whole team is going to arrest him. Where was this police when Bharat Mata was abused.”
Fadnavis further says, “Sharijil Usmani abused Bharat Mata but no FIR was registered against him but you (state govt) filed FIR against Narayan Rane. We do not act like hooligans. But if our party office is attacked in the presence of police, we are capable of protecting ourselves. This is ‘police jivi’ government. It is state-sponsored violence just like in Bengal.”
Violation Of Constitutional Values: JP Nadda on Rane’s Arrest
The national president of BJP, JP Nadda says that the Maharashtra government has done the ‘violation of constitutional values.’ He adds, “We will neither be scared nor suppressed by such action.”
In an interview, the former chief minister of Maharashtra under Shiv Sena, Narayan Rane talks about his views on Balasaheb ji and Uddhav Thackeray. He states, “I respect Balasaheb Ji, I consider him my guru. Even when I was in Shiv Sena, I didn’t get along with Uddhav Thackeray. I quit Shiv Sena because of him.”
Politics surely involve a whole show of twists and turns. Here, loyalties are subject to change.