The Maharashtra government’s response to the Maharashtra Navnirman Sena’s hate campaign against north Indians is increasingly coming in for flak with Maharashtra Revenue Minister Narayan Rane on Wednesday questioning Chief Minister Vilasrao Deshmukh and his Deputy R R Patil’s handling of the issue. This assumes significance in view of rumblings within the Congress with senior leaders in New Delhi disapproving the CM’s perceived attempt to soft-pedal the issue in an apparent bid to make political gains by pitting the MNS against the Shiv Sena.“As part of the Cabinet, I cannot question the CM’s decision. But one should not make statements only. An all-party meeting should have been convened to discuss the situation. But there appears to be no seriousness. The Deputy CM is making his own statements. He talks about bullet for bullet as if it is a border issue,” Rane told The Indian Express when asked for his views about the CM’s handling of the situation.Rane had earlier stated that while Raj Thackeray’s stance on the Marathi issue was right, his methods were wrong. A strong proponent of “Marathi asmita (pride)”, Rane said on Wednesday, “Maharashtra’s name is being maligned. Not just Marathis, but everybody had a role in the progress and development of Maharashtra. The government must convince people that it will provide security to everybody.”The CM seems to have detractors at the party headquarters as well. Many senior leaders believe that Deshmukh had treated the MNS’ threat with kid gloves and Raj Thackeray should have been reined in much earlier. “Deshmukh believed he would pit Raj Thackeray against Uddhav Thackeray and thus neutralise both. If this issue flares up further, the party will have to pay not only in Maharashtra, but across the country,” said a senior Congress leader.AICC spokesperson Jayanthi Natarajan, however, gave a clean chit to the CM. Asserting that the Congress would remain true to its “core values” of a united India and would not remain a mute spectator to any attempt at “regional chauvinism”, she said that Deshmukh had not “gone against any core values”.
