Rane's arrest over anti-Thackeray remark wrong, says Athawale

Nagpur: Union minister Ramdas Athawale on Tuesday said it was wrong to arrest his cabinet colleague and BJP leader Narayan Rane over his objectionable remark against Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray and maintained such statements have been made by the Shiv Sena against others without inviting similar action.

A huge political storm erupted in Maharashtra over Rane’s ”would have slapped Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray” remark for what he claimed as the latter’s ignorance of the year of India’s independence. Union minister Rane was arrested on Tuesday afternoon over his remark.

Athawale, addressing a press conference in Nagpur, said Rane used the same language that is used by the Shiv Sena, which is headed by Thackeray.

”The Shiv Sena has also many times used this kind of language, but no one got arrested. If the Shiv Sena had got angry by his language, they should have replied him back. But, the state government’s decision to arrest a Union minister is wrong,” said the RPI (Athawale) president when asked about the police action against Rane.

Athawale said Rane just vented his anger as the expectations of people from the chief minister were not getting fulfilled.

”Rane only meant that Thackeray is not doing anything for the development of Maharashtra and he seldom steps out of his residence ‘Matoshree’ in Mumbai to understand the problems faced by the people.

”Rane meant that such a chief minister does not have the right to occupy the chair. This was his feeling,” the Minister of State for Social Justice and Empowerment said.

”Rane didn’t mean to insult the chief minister,” the RPI(A) leader said.

”A CM must ensure justice for all. He is also expected to ensure generation of jobs. But nothing is happening in Maharashtra on these fronts in the last two years. Rane’s real cause of anger was the lack of development in Maharashtra,” Athawale added. Asked about the reservation for the Maratha community, he said Tamil Nadu provides 69 per cent quota based on caste in government jobs and education (despite Supreme Court-mandated 50% cap).

”The state government should think on the lines of the Tamil Nadu government. Those who have annual income of less than Rs 8 lakh should get reservation benefits,” Athawale said.

In May, the Supreme Court struck down the 2018 Maharashtra law granting quota to Marathas in admissions and government jobs, terming it as ”unconstitutional”, and held there were no exceptional circumstances to breach the 50 per cent reservation cap set by the 1992 Mandal verdict.

Athawale, an ally of the BJP, also informed about the expansion of his party in Vidarbha and listed welfare schemes initiated by the NDA government in Maharashtra and across India.