Shiv Sena's Thackeray urges Hindus to form suicide squads to tackle Islamic fundamentalism, receives flak

In an editorial in Saamna, Shiv Sena's mouthpiece, Thackeray said a "Hindu bomb" was needed to counter the "Muslim bomb." Thackeray's rhetorics was related to the bomb attacks in theaters in Thane, Vashi and Panvel earlier this month and the subsequent arrests of those suspected to be involved in planting the bombs. While the police managed to defuse the bomb planted in Vashi in time, bombs exploded in Thane and Panvel, injuring several people.

Initial police investigations revealed that the suspects belonged to the Sanatan Sanstha and the Hindu Jana Jagriti Samiti outfits.

Though the Hindu radical outfits have denied having any hand in the bomb attacks, yet, investigations revealed that the attacks were targeted against a controversial Marathi play Aamhi Pachpute, which was being staged in Thane and Vashi and was ridiculing Hindu deities. The attack on the Panvel theater was targeted at the screening of the movie Jodhaa Akbar, which, some Hindu hardliners claimed, portrayed the Hindu community in poor light.

Criticizing the two outfits, Thackeray said the two Hindu bodies should have "held talks with the playwright or the director on the vexed points" instead of orchestrating "ridiculous and stupid" bomb attacks that left several Hindus injured.

Thackeray said he was "happy" that the bombs were made by Hindus, but was saddened by the fact that innocent Hindus were injured. He also criticized the attackers for planting such a weak bomb. "No one but a Hindu could be responsible for a bomb that caused such little injury and was such a wasteful enterprise," he said.

"Think big," the Shiv Sena chief said. "[You] should prepare to meet the bigger task of combating Islamic fundamentalism."

"A Marathi bank clerk will lose his job by indulging in small-time misappropriation. If you want to practice corruption, then be a Ketan Parekh or a Harshad Mehta," he said.

"The need of the hour is to plant a strong bomb in Bangladeshi bastis (slums) that have mushroomed in Thane and elsewhere in Maharashtra," Thackeray said.

"The threat of Islamic terror in India is rising. The only way Islamic terror can be tackled was by unleashing Hindu terror. It is time to set up Hindu suicide squads to ensure safety of the Hindu society and to protect the nation," the firebrand leader said, quoting Manusmriti to prove his point: "Retaliate if under attack. Whether your father or a learned Brahmin attacks you, an attack is an attack."

"The Hindus were safe during the Mughal invasion only because the Maratha warrior Shivaji had the courage to raise his swords against them," he added.

However, Thackeray's rhetorics did not go down well with powerful BJP ally, which condemned his remark.

According to BJP vice president M. Venkaiah Naidu, Thackeray should be reasonable as the people "should not take law into their hands."

It's duty of the government to counter terror. There are more democratic methods to address the problem of terrorism," Naidu said.

Advising Thackeray to abide by the rule of law, Naidu said BJP believes in principles of "democracy and the Constitution."

Hindu nationalist Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) also condemned Thackeray's inflammatory remarks, saying Hindu scriptures do not endorse terrorist activities or violence.

Congress also slammed the hardline Hindu party, saying the comments made by Thackeray were "subversive, anti-national and prejudicial to the secular fabric of the nation."

"The Congress strongly condemns the remarks said to have been made by Mr. Bal Thackeray with regard to the formation of suicide squads. This is a clear call not only to lawlessness and violence but will be also the death knell of peaceful democracy," Congress spokesperson Jayanthi Natarajan said.

"We condemn this irresponsible remark and reject it with contempt," she said.

Meanwhile, Maharashtra Chief Minister Vilasrao Deshmukh, though not directly condemning Thackeray's comments, said the arrest of the alleged terrorists belonging to the Hindu outfits proved that "criminals don't belong to any religion."

ABOUT SHIV SENA

Shiv Sena (Shiva's Army) is a Hindu right-wing extremist party that was linked in the past to waves of mob violence in Maharashtra and held power in Bombay from 1995 to 2000.

Under the garb of nationalism, Shiv Sena has long advocated attacks against minority communities like Muslims and recently was in the news for attempting to stir up native pride by demanding that more should be done to promote the rights of "local" people in the state rather than "outsiders" and threatening to oust the immigrants from the state.