Ramdas Athawale, Minister of State (MoS) for Social Justice and Empowerment in the Narendra Modi cabinet, on Sunday met ex-Navy officer Madan Sharma who was recently attacked by Shiv Sena workers for forwarding a cartoon on WhatsApp.
The cartoon forwarded by Sharma depicts Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray, Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) chief Sharad Pawar and Congress interim President Sonia Gandhi while mocking the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) alliance.
In the cartoon, Uddhav can be seen folding hands before Sharad Pawar and Sonia Gandhi who were labelled as “Pitoshree’ and ‘Matoshree’, respectively. The cartoon was made by an artist Uday Maheshwari.
However, Sharma’s forward didn’t go well with Shiv Sena workers who assaulted him. The attackers include Shiv Sena leader Kamlesh Kadam who is the shakha pramukh of party’s Kandivali unit in Mumbai.
Reacting to the incident, Union Minister Athawale said that forwarding a cartoon was wrong and slammed Shiv Sena-led Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) for attacking the 62-year-old ex-servicemen. He said that the cartoons honour Shiv Sena and Uddhav Thackeray.
“Sanjay Raut went to Sonia Gandhi and Sharad Pawar with folded hands to ask for support to form the government in Maharashtra and keep BJP away from the power,” Athawale said.
In its editorial, Shiv Sena recently wrote Mumbai belongs to Maharashtra before anyone else. Athawale, Republican Party of India (A) chief, said that although Mumbai belongs to Maharashtrians, it equally belongs to people across the country.
“Shiv Sena is right in saying that Mumbai belongs to Maharashtrians because it is the state capital. However, it also belongs to people across the country as it provides employment to everyone. Everyone who lives in Mumbai is a Mumbaikar. Kangana Ranaut and Madan Sharma, both of them call themselves Mumbaikars,” he said.
On September 12, Mumbai Police arrested Shiv Sena leader Kamlesh Kadam and five others after an FIR was registered. However, they were released on bail later. The opposition has demanded strict action against those who attacked the ex-navy officer.
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