In the Thackeray VS Rane feud, new developments emerged as Narayan Rane was arrested for the “slap Uddhav” remark. Further, BJP released a video where the Rajya Sabha member and former Maharashtra Cabinet Minister can be seen sitting and eating lunch while a cordon of his followers can be seen stopping the police from making the arrest. Rane has been arrested on non-bailable charges.
Details
Political leaders in India often indulge into verbal spats and throw in some brutal remarks against the members of opposition parties. The verbal tussle is usually clean and rarely goes below the belt. However, recently, a BJP political leader is facing the wrath after saying that the Maharashtra CM ought to be slapped.
The Arrest
On August 24, the Union Minister Narayan Rane broke a 20-year-record of a union minister being arrested and was taken into police custody by the Maharashtra Police. He was arrested after Shiv Sena, the political powerhouse in Maharashtra filed 3 FIRs against him for his comments on the current Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray.
Maharashtra: Police detained Union Minister and BJP leader Narayan Rane in Ratnagiri
Rane had made remarks against CM Uddhav Thackeray yesterday pic.twitter.com/C3xP843iwV
— ANI (@ANI) August 24, 2021
The Comment
It so happened that in a “Jan Ashirwad Yatra”, organized by BJP where Rane while giving a speech said that CM Thackeray forgot the year of independence and for which, he would have received a slap, had Rane been there.
Mr. Rane’s speech, as quoted by NDTV stated – “It is shameful that the Chief Minister does not know the year of independence. He leaned back to ask about the count of years of independence during his speech. Had I been there, I would have given him a tight slap.”
The Unwanted Record
With his arrest, Rane broke the record of a Central Minister to be arrested in the last 2 decades. Recently appointed by PM Modi as his Minister for Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises, Rane is the first Central Minister who has been arrested in the last 20 years.
Bombay HC Refuses FIR Scrapping
His arrest came after he was refused hearing by the Bombay High Court on his plea that the 3 FIRs, which are filed by Shiv Sena, be scrapped. Rane’s representative in the court asked the court to scrap the FIRs as the police were awaiting at his door step. To this, the Bombay HC stated – “Please follow the procedure. Don’t make us do the job of the registry.”
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BJP Releases Video, J.P. Nadda Condemns Arrest
In the interim, Bharatiya Janata Party shared a video of the whole ordeal and claimed that the arrest was unconstitutional. In the video, which is now making the rounds of social media, Rane can be seen eating his lunch while a group of his supporters can be seen around him as his human cordon. The followers are blocking the policeman who have come to arrest him and shouting in Marathi.
After the arrest, BJP President, J.P. Nadda labelled the arrest unconstitutional and took to Twitter to say, “The arrest of Union Minister Narayan Rane ji by the Maharashtra government is a violation of constitutional values. We will neither be scared nor suppressed by such action. These people are troubled by the immense support the BJP is getting in the Jan-Aashirvad Yatra. We will continue to fight democratically, the journey will continue.”
महाराष्ट्र सरकार द्वारा केंद्रीय मंत्री नारायण राणे जी की गिरफ़्तारी संवैधानिक मूल्यों का हनन है। इस तरह की कार्यवाही से ना तो हम डरेंगे, ना दबेंगे।
भाजपा को जन-आशीर्वाद यात्रा में मिल रहे अपार समर्थन से ये लोग परेशान है।
हम लोकतांत्रिक ढंग से लड़ते रहेंगे, यात्रा जारी रहेंगी।— Jagat Prakash Nadda (@JPNadda) August 24, 2021
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Narayan Rane Timeline – Feud with Shiv Sena, Expelled from Congress, Respite in BJP
69-year-old Cabinet Minister Narayan Rane has had political stints across parties. He started his political career with none other than Shiv Sena back. However, he was expelled from the Maharashtra party in 2005 as Sena considered “Rane began a show of strength. People were threatened and gangsterism in the Sena could not be tolerated.”
Later he joined the Indian National Congress. His stint with the INC was short lived. In the wake of 2008 attacks, Ashok Chavan replaced Vilasrao Deshmukh as Maharashtra CM. As soon as Chavan took the CM seat, Rane spoke against Congress to be expelled for 6 years.
Expelled by 2 prominent parties, Rane finally found a respite in the BJP as the latter merged with Rane’s own party Maharashtra Swabhiman Paksha in 2019.
