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‘Saamana’ attacks Maharashtra govt over journalist’s arrest, asks Devendra Fadnavis to sack minister Jaykumar Gore

Tushar Abaji Kharat, editor of a YouTube channel, has been accused of conspiring to defame minister Jaykumar Gore and attempting to extort him.

Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis. (File Photo)

Shiv Sena (UBT) mouthpiece Saamana Wednesday criticised the Devendra Fadnavis government in Maharashtra for arresting Tushar Abaji Kharat, the editor of a YouTube channel, and ”throwing all democratic norms to the wind”. The paper also said Fadnavis should sack Rural Development Minister Jaykumar Gore, who has accused Kharat of an extortion attempt, leading to his arrest.

”The arrest of journalist Tushar Kharat is a blow to the people who believe in freedom and democracy,” the paper said in its editorial.

The Satara police Sunday arrested Kharat, the editor of Lay Bhari, from Mumbai and booked in him in two cases. In the first case, Kharat has been booked on charges of hurling casteist remarks against Shekhar Patole, an aide of Gore. In the second case, Kharat has been accused of conspiring to defame Gore by raking up sexual assault and molestation cases and demanding Rs 5 crore.

The paper said Kharat’s arrest raises the question of whether there is an undeclared Emergency in Maharashtra and media censorship. ”Has the government issued a directive that if anyone makes any allegations of corruption, rape and goondaism against ruling party leaders and ministers, the journalists should ignore such allegations?” the paper asked.

“Has Chief Minister Devendra Fadanvis given ministers the licence to behave as they want and threaten those who speak the truth? The chief minister should reply to these questions in the state legislature,” the editorial said.

The paper stated that although Fadnavis is the chief minister of Maharashtra, several criminals hold positions in his Cabinet. “Law enforcement and the police are responding to the demands of these criminals,” it said.

The editorial criticised Gore, a minister from Satara, for allegedly crossing the boundaries of proper governance. It claimed, “Misusing his power and the police force, he has falsely charged journalist Kharat, who exposed the minister’s wrongdoings, and as a result, he was arrested. Instead of the minister facing the consequences, the police have filed multiple false cases against the journalist. Does Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis support this government-sponsored mob rule by the minister?” it asked.

‘Jaykumar Gore misled legislature’

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Kharat’s arrest came days after Gore moved a breach of privilege motion in the Assembly, accusing Opposition leaders and the journalist of maliciously reviving a dismissed case.

Saamana, however, stated Gore had misled the state legislature about his acquittal in a case. ”The minister had apologised to the woman and sought withdrawal of the case against him… When the minister said I would not trouble you henceforth, only then she withdrew the case… The minister had told a lie to the state legislature. The woman will hold a hunger strike in front of the Raj Bhavan,” the paper said.

The paper said misuse of police force is happening across Maharashtra. ”The minister’s behaviour is similar to Walmik Karad of Beed. Karad is in jail, and the minister should also be in jail,” he said.

Saamana said Kharat had exposed several wrongdoings in the Satara district. “If Kharat has done anything wrong, then the law should take its own course. A defamation suit can be filed against him. However, the minister straightway brought in a privilege motion against Kharat and got him arrested. The minister got several cases filed against Kharat so that he would never be released from jail. To target a young journalist in this manner, it is absolutely reprehensible,” the paper said.

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The editorial highlighted Maharashtra’s rich legacy of icons such as Bal Gangadhar Tilak, Gopal Ganesh Agarkar, Balshastri Jambhekar, and Acharya Atre. It stated, “In this same Maharashtra, a young journalist has been imprisoned for speaking the truth. Thus, this Maharashtra no longer belongs to Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj but to Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Those who criticise the prime minister have been jailed.”

The editorial stated that if the Opposition still has strength, it will seek the journalist’s arrest in the state legislature, complicating matters for the government.

Saamana said there are two descendants of Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj in Satara. ”Are they going remain silent over the illegal arrest of a young journalist?” it asked.

“If writing and speaking the truth is a crime, then Maharashtra will become a state of deaf and dumb like Gujarat. The minister has exposed himself and the chief minister as well,” it said.

Manoj Dattatrye More

Manoj More has been working with the Indian Express since 1992. For the first 16 years, he worked on the desk, edited stories, made pages, wrote special stories and handled The Indian Express edition. In 31 years of his career, he has regularly written stories on a range of topics, primarily on civic issues like state of roads, choked drains, garbage problems, inadequate transport facilities and the like. He has also written aggressively on local gondaism. He has primarily written civic stories from Pimpri-Chinchwad, Khadki, Maval and some parts of Pune. He has also covered stories from Kolhapur, Satara, Solapur, Sangli, Ahmednagar and Latur. He has had maximum impact stories from Pimpri-Chinchwad industrial city which he has covered extensively for the last three decades. Manoj More has written over 20,000 stories. 10,000 of which are byline stories. Most of the stories pertain to civic issues and political ones. The biggest achievement of his career is getting a nearly two kilometre road done on Pune-Mumbai highway in Khadki in 2006. He wrote stories on the state of roads since 1997. In 10 years, nearly 200 two-wheeler riders had died in accidents due to the pathetic state of the road. The local cantonment board could not get the road redone as it lacked funds. The then PMC commissioner Pravin Pardeshi took the initiative, went out of his way and made the Khadki road by spending Rs 23 crore from JNNURM Funds. In the next 10 years after the road was made by the PMC, less than 10 citizens had died, effectively saving more than 100 lives. Manoj More's campaign against tree cutting on Pune-Mumbai highway in 1999 and Pune-Nashik highway in 2004 saved 2000 trees. During Covid, over 50 doctors were asked to pay Rs 30 lakh each for getting a job with PCMC. The PCMC administration alerted Manoj More who did a story on the subject, asking then corporators how much money they demanded....The story worked as doctors got the job without paying a single paisa. Manoj More has also covered the "Latur drought" situation in 2015 when a "Latur water train" created quite a buzz in Maharashtra. He also covered the Malin tragedy where over 150 villagers had died. Manoj More is on Facebook with 4.9k followers (Manoj More), on twitter manojmore91982 ... Read More

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