145;BORI just the beginning146;

Five days after vandalising Pune8217;s Bhandarkar Oriental Research Institute BORI, the Sambhaji Brigade today threatened of more unrest ...

Five days after vandalising Pune8217;s Bhandarkar Oriental Research Institute BORI, the Sambhaji Brigade today threatened of more unrest if action is not taken against historian James W. Laine, the author of a controversial book on warrior king Shivaji.

Calling themselves the 8216;8216;true sons of Shivaji8217;8217;, vociferous members of the Brigade met mediapersons and alleged that Laine8217;s book, Shivaji: The Hindu King in Islamic India, was part of a 8216;8216;larger conspiracy hatched by BORI8221;. 8216;8216;Bhandarkar institute got this scurrilous book written by Laine,8217;8217; said Brigade spokesman Shreemant Kokate and added all those acknowledged by the author, a faculty member at a US university, be arrested. The Brigade also called for legal action against Laine and his publisher, the OUP.

Kokate threatened to launch agitation if the state government doesn8217;t take them seriously. Describing the BORI attack as an impromptu outburst of their feelings after they came to know about the blasphemous remarks against Jijabai, Shivaji8217;s mother, he said: 8216;8216;Even if BORI is burnt down ten thousand times, the insult inflicted upon Jijabai would not be mitigated.8217;8217;

The Brigade called for shutting down BORI as Laine had described it as his 8216;8216;scholarly home8217;8217;. Laine, he said, referred to certain jokes on Shivaji8217;s parentage. 8216;8216;Those who fed him with the offensive information should be hanged by the government. If the government is unable to do so they should be handed over to us,8217;8217; he said.

The Brigade did not stop at BORI. It also called for probe against the American Study Circle, Deccan College, Tilak Maharashtra Vidyapeeth and Bharat Itihas Samshodhan Mandal for 8216;8216;disseminating information to insult national heroes8217;8217;.

Sunil Bappa More, the Brigade8217;s regional president for western Maharashtra, called for the release of 72 of its members arrested for the attack and wanted charges of dacoity against them withdrawn.