Shiv Sena felicitates 16 who hit Kirit Somaiya

One of the accused Jagdish Shetty being felicitated by Shiv Sena leaders Liladhar Dake and Datta Dalvi at Mulund.

The Shiv Sena’s (north-east) wing on Wednesday felicitated 16 of its party members, who were sent behind bars for 10 days after assaulting Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MP Kirit Somaiya and his aides two weeks ago during Dusshera celebrations at Mulund.

Sena leader and former mayor Datta Dalvi even assured the 16 sainiks (accused) that the party would support them till the end. The Sena’s gala event at Mulund has stirred up a hornet’s nest, with several BJP leaders fuming.

On Wednesday, Sena leader Liladhar Dake was present on the stage, felicitating the 16 accused in front of a packed hall at Mulund. One of the accused, Aniket Yerunkar posted the pictures on his Facebook page. He even posted photographs of the event on Twitter with a caption: “The north-east Mumbai Shiv Sena felicitated all the 16 party workers who taught a lesson to Kirit Somaiya.

I was behind bars for 11 days in spite of being sick”.

A sainik who was present at the felicitation ceremony in Mulund said that the event had a huge turnout. “We will not tolerate any insult to our party and its leader. We don’t mind taking the law in our hands when our party (Sena) stands behind us,” the sainik said. Mr Dalvi confirmed about the felicitation programme and said, “It is normal of a party to tell people that it supports them.”

On October 11, a group of sainiks allegedly assaulted Mr Somaiya and some BJP workers, who were on their way to burn an effigy during the Dusshera celebrations. The effigy was named corruption mafia of BMC. This apparently didn’t go well with the Shiv Sena and its members considering it as a direct attack on Sena patriarch Uddhav Thackeray and his son.

However, this bonhomie of Sena hasn’t gone well with its alliance partner. BJP’s Mumbai chief spokesperson Niranjan Shetty said, “What can one expect from a party that has raised through violence. Go back in history and you will see that the Sena has always used violence. It is sad that they have felicitated people who took the law in their hands.”

In 2015, the Sena had felicitated a group of sainiks who had blackened the face of writer Sudheendra Kulkarni for inviting Pakistan’s former minister Khurshid Kasuri and organising the release of his book, Neither a Hawk nor a Dove.