Speak fearlessly in lead up to 2014 Lok Sabha elections, urges Shobha De

After Shobha De's tweet on Mumbai has become the central focus of the politicians of Maharashtra, the author defended her statement and urged citizens to speak their minds fearlessly in the lead up to the 2014 Lok Sabha elections and not fall into the trap of vote bank politics.

After the decision to carve out Telangana from Andhra Pradesh, De used the micro-blogging website on July 30 to hint at the possibility that Mumbai be separated from the rest of Maharashtra.

De's tweet read: "Maharashtra and Mumbai??? Why not? Mumbai has always fancied itself as an independent entity, anyway. This game has countless possibilities."

Earlier today, Shiv Sena supporters protested outside De's residence.

Here today, speaking to media persons after an event, De said that she had no need to apologize for her statement.

"I think that this has to be something that is strenuously defended. I am very happy to see the public support that I have received. These kind of methods to intimidate or threaten anybody, any citizen of the country, we have to do what we have to do which is expect that the law and order situation is taken care of by the people who are in-charge of the city," De said commenting on the protests outside her residence.

De alleged that political parties were engaging in political opportunism, in the lead up to the 2014 Lok Sabha elections. "It (The division of states) is something that we should think through in a more mature way and long-term. There are people who have legitimate rights, legitimate reservations and legitimate demands; so we can't bracket everybody in the same way. These are political questions but sometimes they can also be looked at upon as political opportunism when you're looking at upcoming elections and the vote bank politics," De said.

Commenting on the political climate of the country, De said that she fears that it will be a very ugly election. "I fear that there will be many more such incidents in not just Mumbai but across India. Unless those of us who are in the position to resist and speak up against these attempts to suppress voices, to kill dissent, we have to do it, we are obliged to do it and we must do it," De added.

Meanwhile, De said that she thought that the timing of the Telangana decision was one that was suspect.

She also used the opportunity to appeal to the politicians to "Let there be an open discussion and an open debate. Let dissent be permitted in a way that it should be in a democracy and in any civilized society."

Rejecting the prospect of being deterred by the political backlash that her tweet received, De said: "I have always been an independent thinker, I have always been non-aligned, not with any political party and I have no personal agenda whatsoever; so I will continue to speak my mind as fearlessly as a democracy allows every citizen."

On Wednesday, Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) chief Raj Thackeray launched a personal attack on Shobha De, with regard to her tweet, saying that forming a new state was not as easy as getting a divorce which De would understand.

On Thursday, Shiv Sena supporters staged a massive protest outside De's residence in Mumbai.