(The Times of India, June 19, 2008)
GOVT REACTS CAUTIOUSLY TO SENA BOMB
Cops Will Be Asked To Study Saamna Edit, Says Deputy Chief Minister Patil
Prafulla Marpakwar | TNN
Mumbai: The Congress-led Democratic Front government does not seem to have taken the editorial in Shiv Sena mouthpiece Saamna very seriously.
“I don’t know. I have not read the editorial,’’ was deputy chief minister and state home minister R R Patil’s initial response when a group of scribes asked for his comments on the controversial editorial.
But, when the scribes brought the contents of the editorial to his minister, Patil had no option but to say that he would ask the Special Branch and the State Intelligence Department to carefully study the editorial in the Saamna. “In fact, it is a routine exercise for the Special Branch and the SID to study articles and editorials in newspapers and bring their contents and their impact to the notice of the government,’’ Patil said.
His government would take the opinion of the home and the law and judiciary departments on the next course of action if the Special Branch or the SID gave an adverse report, Patil said.
Despite these comments, however, it appeared as if Patil was not aware of the contents of the editorial till the members of the electronic and print media sought his comments. The Saamna editorial, among other things, says there is the need for a “Hindu bomb’’ to tackle the “Muslim bomb’’. Pro-Hindu activists engineering blasts in Thane and Vashi was a we l c o m e step but, at the same time, it was sad that the bombs were aimed to injure none other than only Hindus, the editorial added.
A senior IPS official said it was the responsibility of the Special Branch and the SID to bring to the notice of the chief minister and the deputy chief minister media reports that might have an adverse impact on the law-and-order situation.
A section of Congress and NCP ministers felt that the home department should act against the Saamna. “Such articles disturb peace in society and create law-and-order problems,’’ a senior Congress minister said.
But a leading lawyer, on condition of anonymity, said there was prime facie nothing objectionable in the editorial. “Thackeray has expressed his views. He has been agitating for the cause of the Hindus,’’ he added.
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