Shiv Sena targets police over arrests of 'Urban Naxals'

The Shiv Sena on Monday targeted the Maharashtra Police for the arrest of five so-called "urban-Naxals" on charges that they were a plotting a Rajiv Gandhi-style assassination of Prime Minister Narendra Modi among others.

"The police contentions behind the arrests are ridiculous. The erstwhile government of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh was voted out and removed by the people - not by Maoists. As of now... at least, it is still possible to change the government through the democratic processes," the Sena said.

"The (Pune) Police must not shoot off their mouths like this and the government must bar them from such statements. Its sheer stupidity," the Sena said in editorials in the party organs "Saamana" and "Dopahar Ka Saamana".

The editorial also took on the Pune Police over claims that Modi was allegedly being targeted for a 'Rajiv Gandhi-style assassination'.

"The former PMs, Indira Gandhi and Rajiv Gandhi, were fearless and courageous leaders. It was their boldness which claimed their lives. But Modi will never indulge in such adventures. He is already provided the best security in the world and not even a bird can overfly him," the Sena pointed out.

Dismissing the police contentions, the Sena, a BJP ally in Maharashtra and Centre, said that "if these handful of Maoists had so much political strength", they would never have lost their (Communist) governments in West Bengal and Tripura.

The Pune Police arrested P. Varavara Rao, Sudhar Bharadwaj, Gautam Navlakha, Arun Fereira and Vernon Gonsalves from different cities.

"There are some doubts that something is wrong somewhere with these arrests. The facts must come out before the BJP becomes the butt of new jokes," the Sena said.

--IANS

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