Rahul and BJP: The knife cuts the other way in Maharashtra Assembly

Assembly Speaker Rahul Narwekar has frowned upon it, while both Chief Minister Eknath Shinde and Deputy CM Devendra Fadnavis have regretted the incident, though with a rider, pointing to the Congress leaders’ remarks about Sangh ideologues.

For the second consecutive day on Friday, the Budget Session of the Assembly was marked by protests and frequent adjournments, as the Opposition demanded suspension of the BJP and Shinde Sena members who had hit Rahul posters with footwear on the steps of the Vidhan Bhawan.

The group of MLAs and MLCs had carried in two banners of Rahul and held the demonstration soon after the Surat court order came convicting the Congress leader for his 2019 remarks asking “why all thieves have Modi surname”. As others raised slogans against Rahul — among others saying “Desh ke gaddaro ko, maro joote salon ko (hit the country’s traitors with shoes)” — some decided to follow up on that literally.

They proceeded to take off their slippers and hit the banners – with Shinde Sena MLA and chief whip Bharat Gogawale and BJP MLA Yogesh Sagar taking the lead. The video footage of the incident was widely shared.

With his attention drawn to the incident, Speaker Narwekar said: “I will look into the video footage. The entire incident will be thoroughly investigated… Even a protest has to be done at an appropriate forum, within laid-down norms.” He also promised “standard operating procedures and a code of conduct for members in respect to PM, CM, national leaders”.

Both Shinde and Fadnavis called the beating of Rahul’s posters with slippers as “unacceptable” and “condemnable”. However, Shinde added: “Opposition parties have often made sarcastic comments against the PM. When you insult the PM, it is like insulting the country.”

Fadnavis said while he accepted that the legislators should not have hit the posters with slippers, “Those attacking V D Savarkar should also realise he was a great freedom fighter who served 11 years in solitary confinement in the Andaman and Nicobar Islands prison. When Rahul Gandhi repeatedly questions the sacrifice of Savarkar and talks about the mercy petition by him, it is very insulting. Every Indian who reveres Savarkar is bound to react.”

BJP leaders said that if their members are suspended over the hitting of the posters, “we will seek similar action against Opposition leaders”. “During the Budget Session earlier, they held protests daily calling the Shinde-Fadnavis government ‘khoke sarkar’. They have also made uncharitable comments against the CM,” one BJP leader said.

On Friday, as the Opposition stepped up its protests after news came officially marking Rahul’s disqualification as an MP, former Congress minister Balasaheb Thorat said: “You can stoop low and beat Rahul Gandhi posters with slippers. You may disqualify him from the Lok Sabha. But don’t forget that the people are watching. Their verdict is awaited.”