The battle between the ruling ‘Maha Vikas Aghadi’ coalition of the Shiv Sena, the Nationalist Congress Party and the Congress and the Opposition Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) following the Enforcement Directorate’s arrest of Maharashtra Minister and senior NCP leader Nawab Malik was joined in earnest, with MVA leaders and the BJP activists staging protests and counter-protests on February 24.
While almost all top NCP leaders and several Congress Ministers gathered at the Mahatma Gandhi statue near the Mantralaya in Mumbai, the MVA protest against the BJP-led Centre’s misuse of probe agencies was marked by the conspicuous absence of the Shiv Sena leaders.
While senior Sena leader and State Industries Minister Subhash Desai arrived late at the protest venue, most of the top party brass were not present.
Explaining their absence, the Shiv Sena spokesperson Manisha Kayande said Shiv Sena leaders including Aaditya Thackeray, Sanjay Raut and Eknath Shinde were away campaigning in poll-bound Uttar Pradesh while others including State Transport Minister Sanjay Parab were away for an annual religious ceremony in Maharashtra’s Konkan region.
“There is no need to take any other meaning concerning some Sena leaders who could unfortunately not be present as events [Mr. Malik’s interrogation and arrest by the ED] happened suddenly. Many of them are campaigning in Uttar Pradesh while others are attending the annual Bharadi Devi jatra at Anganewadi village [in Konkan’s Sindhudurg district]…all those Shiv Sena leaders who are in Mumbai will be reaching the protest venue soon,” said Ms. Kayande, stressing that all three parties stood united against the ED’s action on Mr. Malik.
On the other hand, the BJP activists were seen protesting in Pune and other places in the State, raising slogans against Mr. Malik and calling for his immediate resignation while demanding his alleged ‘links’ with fugitive underworld don Dawood Ibrahim be further probed.
The NCP leadership continued to back Mr. Malik, emphatically stating that the BJP had no right to demand his resignation and that the three parties in the MVA had taken a clear stance on the issue.
“The BJP is trying to tarnish Mr. Malik by linking his name with Dawood Ibrahim. It becomes particularly easy [for the BJP] to influence people when a Muslim party activist is smeared with the ‘Dawood Ibrahim’ taint,” said NCP Minister Chhagan Bhujbal.
Mr. Bhujbal further demanded to know why BJP Leader of Opposition Devendra Fadnavis, who made the accusations against Mr. Malik linking him with a business deal with a 1993 Mumbai blast convict, did not probe Mr. Malik when the BJP was in power in Maharashtra until 2019 and Mr. Fadnavis was the Chief Minister.
“How they can prosecute Mr. Malik under the Prevention of Money Laundering (PMLA) Act which came into force after he had struck his property deal? Moreover, if there was indeed so much evidence to link Mr. Malik with Dawood Ibrahim, then why Devendra Fadnavis did not take action when he was Chief Minister? Whatever the public may have thought about the veracity of the ED probes in the past, now they can clearly see that these are the BJP’s tricks to destabilise the MVA government,” Mr. Bhujbal said.
Alleging that the BJP virtually controlled the ED and other Central agencies, senior Congressman and Minister Balasaheb Thorat said that the agency’s action against Mr. Malik was proof that the BJP could not bear to see the three-party MVA functioning smoothly.
NCP State President Jayant Patil said that it had become a countrywide trend since the last two years that anyone dissenting against the BJP vocally was being persecuted by agency probes on the basis of some obscure case.
“A person [Mr. Malik] who has had an unblemished record in the State Assembly is suddenly slapped with allegations and linked to terrorists with some property sale he did more than 20 years ago. This is a clear attempt to defame the MVA… Tomorrow [Friday] there will be a reaction throughout the State on this as workers of all three parties will protest jointly,” he said.
Remarking that Mr. Malik himself would give a fitting reply to Mr. Fadnavis’ accusations, Mr. Patil said that the MVA had no intention of “encouraging” the BJP by giving in to their demand of Mr. Malik’s resignation.
“This is the BJP’s last weapon [unleashing the ED]…Even when there is no relation between Mr. Malik and the nefarious underworld don, false allegations of ‘terror funding’ are being slapped on him,” he said.
Last year, it was Mr. Fadnavis who had alleged that Mr. Malik had apparently struck a property deal with 1993 Mumbai bomb blast convict Sardar Shahwali Khan and Mohd Salim Ishaq Patel, said to be the ‘frontman’ of Haseena Parkar, Dawood Ibrahim’s sister. According to Mr. Fadnavis, a prime property of 2.80 acres at LBS Marg in Kurla was brought by Solidus Investment Private Limited for a meagre ₹30 lakh. “The signatory of the deal transacted was Faraz Malik, who is Nawab Malik’s son,” Mr. Fadnavis had alleged.
Meanwhile, after West Bengal Chief Minister and Trinamool Congress chairperson Mamata Banerjee spoke to NCP chief Sharad Pawar to show solidarity following Mr. Malik’s arrest, Bahujan Samajwadi Party (BSP) chief Mayawati lambasted the BJP-led Centre for misusing its power “in the name of terrorism.”
Ms. Mayawati accused the government of using Central agencies such as the ED and the ‘ongoing probe in Maharashtra’ for its personal gains.
“Whatever is happening in the country in the name of terrorism and sometimes in the name of ongoing investigation in Maharashtra, is very unfortunate. This is the (BJP-led) govt’s bid to influence the Assembly elections being held in Uttar Pradesh. People must be alert,” she said on Twitter.
