Hardline Maratha organisation Sambhaji Brigade on Tuesday pelted stones on the Mumbai office of Saamana, Shiv Sena’s mouthpiece.
Navi Mumbai Police Commissioner Hemant Nagrale said some culprits stoned the publication’s offices in Saanpada suburb, shattering two or three glass windows on the outer wall.
Investigations will be conducted and appropriate action taken against the accused.Hemant Nagrale, Police Commissioner, Navi Mumbai
In adjoining Thane town, some people threw ink outside the office of Saamana, the mouthpiece of the Shiv Sena, a BJP ally in both the central and Maharashtra governments.
Shiv Sena Gets a Taste of Its Own Medicine
After pelting stones at the Mumbai offices of Saamana, Sambhaji Brigade took responsibility of the attack and accused Saamana of humiliating Maratha women.
The attack happened when a protest rally was going on in Sangli district. This is the first violent incident related to Maratha protests.
Though there is no official comment, the provocation for the attacks stem from a cartoon published in the Saamana on Sunday, poking fun at the ongoing statewide stir by Marathas seeking reservation and other issues.
The Maratha community has taken strong objection to what it alleged were snide suggestions made in the Saamana cartoon.
Sambhaji Brigade has in the past attacked Bhandarkar Oriental Research Institute (BORI) in Pune in 2004 after experts from the institute had helped US academic James Lane write his book Shivaji: Hindu King in Islamic India, which allegedly insulted Shivaji (a Maratha king). Brigade called it a conspiracy of Brahmins to defame Shivaji.
Brigade also helped form a new religion called ‘Shivdharma’, where Shivaji is the god and all religious ceremonies are carried out without Brahmins.
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