Saamana cartoon mocking Maratha protests enrages community, Sena leaders

A cartoon mocking the ongoing Maratha protests in Maharashtra which appeared in the Shiv Sena mouthpiece Saamana upset the Maratha community and sparked off a minor insurrection within the party with several leaders threatening to resign over it. The cartoon played on the words ‘muk morcha’ (silent protest) and depicted a couple kissing captioned as ‘muka morcha’ (kissing protest).

Member of Parliament (MP) Prataprao Jadhav, and Members of Legislative Assembly (MLA) Sanjay Raimulkar and Shashikant Khedekar, from the Buldhana district, were reportedly ready to tender their resignation in a meeting with senior Sena leaders. They have refrained from doing so for now, and will discuss the issue with Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray.

Meanwhile, a Saamana office in Mumbai was attacked by members of the Sambhaji Brigade who threw stones and broke windows and demanded that “Shiv Sena executive president Uddhav Thackeray and Saamana‘s executive editor Sanjay Raut must apologise to the women of Maharashtra”. Stones were also pelted at the publication’s office in Sanpada, Navi Mumbai and ink was reportedly thrown on an office in Thane as well.

The Shiv Sena, on the other hand, has brushed off allegations of being an anti-Maratha party.