Days after the highly publicised war of words between the Shiv Sena and actress Kangana Ranaut, the party bulldozed the office of the actress. Meanwhile, Shiv Sena workers, also known as Shiv Sainiks, thrashed a retired navy officer Madan Sharma for sharing a Whatsapp forward criticising Uddhav Thackeray.
During a panel discussion on Aaj Tak on the issue of hooliganism of the Shiv Sainiks and the high-handedness of the Maharashtra government, actor Nassar Abdulla came in support of the party. Abdulla, who featured in movies such as ‘Gandhi’, ‘Main Hoon Na’, and Page 3, not only acted as an ‘unofficial spokesperson’ but also attempted to whitewash the actions of Shiv Sena by suggesting that the party respects women.
Shiv Sena has a culture of violence, concedes Nassar Abdullah
“It is a well-known thing about Shiv Sena’s history. Whenever someone spoke against them or mocked them or even made cartoons on them, they have always reacted violently. Breaking offices, assaulting people is not a new phenomenon. I am seeing this for the past 20-25 years. We know what happened to Nikhil Wagle,” conceded the actor.
The above mentioned part can be seen in the video from 32.00 minutes onwards in the video.
Nassar Abdullah resorts to victim blaming
While lending credence to the actions of the Maharashtra government, Abdullah had a word of caution for the Shiv Sena. He said, “”This is proving costly for Shiv Sena. Whatever they did with Kangana as a reactionary measure was wrong to a large extent…” Later, he resorted to victim-blaming to shift the onus from the party’s collective action to one individual. Abdullah stated, “They need to now think about how they are going to approach the situation… Kangana has misused her freedom of speech. It was a highly irresponsible statement.”
Shiv Sena did not assault Kangana because they respect women, Abdullah makes bizarre claims
Nassar Abdullah claimed, “I am watching Shiv Sainiks engaging in vandalism since the time of Balasaheb Thackeray. However, I want to point it out to you that Shiv Sainiks respect women. Only because Kangana Ranuat is a woman, they did not engage in violence. They just used a bulldozer instead (to demolish her office).” Drawing parallels with the attack on the former navy officer, he said, “Shiv Sainiks aurat ki itni toh izzat karta hai ki hatha pai nahin karta (Shiv Sainiks respect women to the extent that they don’t beat her.)” Abdullah seemed to operate on the belief that party workers were doing a favour on Kangana Ranaut by not thrashing her and just demolishing her property.
India Today anchor trashes bizarre claims of Abdullah
His bizarre attempt at whitewashing the culture of ‘violence’ and ‘vandalism’ imbibed within the Shiv Sena found no takers on the debate. Host Anjana Kashyap rebuked, “I have never heard anything more absurd and ridiculous than this. What are you even saying? Shiv Sena respects women just because they don’t beat and instead send bulldozers to destroy her office. The way you are supporting the Shiv Sena is unique. They respect women so they only beat the retired navy officer.”
Maharashtra government at loggerheads with Kangana Ranaut
The Kangana vs Shiv Sena standoff escalated after Shiv Sena leaders, as well as NCP leaders, threatened Kangana Ranaut for referring to Mumbai as Pakistan-occupied-Kashmir after Azadi slogans were spotted on graffiti. Later, the Mumbai Commissioner of Police also ‘liked’ a tweet abusing her. Shiv Sena MP and chief spokesperson Sanjay Raut even referred to her as ‘haramkhor ladki’. After the misogynist and sexist tirade against her, Raut claimed ‘haramkhor’ means ‘naughty. Sena MLA Pratap Sarnaik had stated that Shiv Sena workers will ‘break Kangana’s mouth’ if she sets foot in Mumbai.
