Mumbai: Shiv Sena chief spokesperson Sanjay Raut has said that India will break like Russia if the BJP-led government of India keeps on destabilizing state governments.
Raut in his weekly column ‘Rokhthok’, that appeared in Saamana magazine, said: “If those who are in power at the Centre don’t realise that they are doing people of the country a disservice by indulging in politicking, there would be break up of states in the country like how Russia had disintegrated”.
Raut went on to add that the GoI-states relations vis-à-vis non-BJP ruled states were not at its best. “The fact that states that have non-BJP governments belong to the country is being forgotten,” he said.
Raut is the executive editor of Saamana and a close aide of Maharashtra chief minister Uddhav Thackeray.
Meanwhile, BJP has strongly reacted at Shiv Sena and Raut for the column that appeared as a 2020 year-ender.
BJP spokesperson Ram Kadam wanted to know if Congress president Sonia Gandhi, her son Rahul Gandhi and NCP supremo Sharad Pawar – who are partners in the Maha Vikas Aghadi government – agree to what Raut has said.
“What Raut is saying about the breaking up of states is an insult to martyrs,” Kadam was quoting as saying.
Senior BJP leader Atul Bhatkhalkar said that Shiv Sena is in alliance with Congress which supports the ‘tukde-tukde gang’. “The country is totally united under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi,” he said, adding that a case of sedition must be lodged against Raut.