Shiv Sena condemns police lathicharge on JNU students, attacks BJP

New Delhi: In its latest mouthpiece 'Saamana editorial, the Shiv Sena condemned the lathicharge by Delhi Police on protesting students of Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU). The piece was published on Thursday.

Further, it even criticized the Bharatiya Janata Party saying the party got its way through protests. Shiv Sena's editorial read, "Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) got their current position by protesting. They should not try to suppress democratic protests. BJP leaders stood with Anna Hazare in his anti-corruption movement. BJP should not forget that they came to power by protesting,"

The editorial stated that they do not support the students crossing barricades but hitting visually impaired and students with disabilities is not the way forward. It even said if Congress was in power during similar times, the ABVP would have called for a bandh. "If this kind of protest happened under the Congress government, the BJP would have protested in Parliament. The Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) would have given a call for a Bharat Bandh," the editorial read.

It even questioned the effectiveness of lathicharge saying, "By resorting to lathicharge on students did the government solve the problem of the students who are saying that they cannot afford the current hike in the hostel prices?" the Saamana editorial stated.

The Saamana editorial added that the JNU students are not being taken seriously because the previous leaders who emerged out of the university were not from the right-wing. "This university has given many gems like Abhijit Banerjee who are making India proud. This institution has given many great leaders but none of them were of the right-wing view. The voices being raised to demand their rights must not be suppressed. Rather than fighting with students, the government must try to solve their problem," the Saamana editorial added.

This editorial comes at a time of power tussle in the Maharashtra state. The Shiv Sena and BJP had a fallout after contesting as allies in the elections, but couldn't agree on power sharing. The Shiv Sena is in talks with the Congress party to form a government together in the state, but nothing has been confirmed yet.