Sena men hang8217; Hindutva effigy

A flurry of banners and posters ridiculed Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee and Home Minister L K Advani for their stand on both the issues. The main banner had Vajpayee and Advani taking off on the current Bollywood chartbuster Aati Kya Khandala with the two leaders asking one another 8220;Aay, kya bolte tum8221;.

Vajpayee is shown telling his colleague to allow the Pakistanis while Advani says there should not be pressure to sing VandeMataram8217;.

Seemingly contradictory, the Sena had an explanation to ridicule Hindutva and its most-closely identified leaders. 8220;If the Pakistanis are allowed to come, it means Hindutva is dead,8221; said a Sena leader. Sarpotdar8217;s presence was a surprise to the hundreds of Sainiks gathered at the beach; it also signified the serious nature of the Sena8217;s agitation. 8220;The BJP is toeing this line only because of elections,8221; said Sarpotdar.

The fight between the alliance partners is no longer confined to the leaders. With this demonstration, the Sena has taken it to the streets. However, the city unit of the BJP is not worried. 8220;Our stand is clear. We are not doing anything for elections. On the contrary, the Sena has made an issue because we didn8217;t give them seats in the four states that went to the polls today,8221; said Kirit Sommaiya, BJP8217;s Mumbai president.