No letting up for SP MLA after hindi oath Fiasco. Three days on, Sena, its student wing and the BMC want his head
No letting up for SP MLA after Hindi oath Fiasco. Three days on, Sena, its student wing and the BMC want his head
First the mike he was taking his oath on at the Vidhan Bhavan on Monday was snatched away, then he was pulverised and now, threatened.
Yesterday, Samajwadi Party (SP) MLA Abu Azmi escaped a three-pronged full frontal attack from the Shiv Sena, its student wing, the Bhartiya Vidhyarthi Sena (BVS) and the BMC.
It remains to be seen how long he can keep running.
Yesterday, a heavy security cordon was thrown around Azmi's house in Colaba and at the restaurants Koyla and Basilico, owned by his son Farhan in anticipation of attacks from political parties.
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Sena leaders from the BMC want to reopen investigations at the Koyla restaurant, which had been under the scanner three years ago, after the BMC demolished an illegal rain shed.
SP leaders also claimed that activists of the BVS have threatened to ransack both the restaurants in Colaba and its branches in Bandra.
Hauled over coals
The restaurant located on the terrace of a four-storied building in the same lane as the Radio Club has been shut for the last three days, ostensibly because of the rains. Confirming this, Farhan said, "There is nothing illegal about Koyla.
We have all the papers with us and so the question of irregularities does not arise. Nearly three to four years ago, a part of the restaurant had been demolished after we erected a rain shed.
We had permission for a bamboo rain shed, while ours was an iron one. Now, everything has been resolved." Koyla was razed by the BMC in January 2005.
He added, "After the threat from the BVS, we asked the joint commissioner for extra forces to be deployed at our restaurants to keep them safe."
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B Dhole, the police in-charge of Colaba police station confirmed, "We deployed the police at Azmi's residence and even at his restaurants in anticipation of any attacks."
Ravindra Waikar, Sena MLA and BMC's Standing Committee Chairman, said, "His restaurant [Koyla] was earlier razed for irregularities so we will further investigate the matter to find out whether the irregularities still exist.
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He has insulted our leader, which is unacceptable."
Yesterday, scores of Shiv Sainiks intensified their stir against Azmi by courting arrest outside the Legislative Assembly.
Sainiks demanded an unconditional apology from the SP legislator for his remarks against Sena Supremo Bal Thackeray.
Ram Kadam, the MNS leader who slapped Azmi in the Assembly on Monday, said, "Balasaheb's stature is too high and Azmi is a nobody to talk about Balasaheb.
Had it been the MNS, we would have thought him a lesson. We will still drag Azmi by his ears out of his home and will ask him to seek forgiveness from the Marathi manoos for disrespecting them.
What is the Sena searching for now? Yesterday, they let him go and couldn't even manage to drag him out of the car."
Said Eknath Shinde, Sena MLA, "Azmi would have been in trouble had he turned up in the Assembly today."u00a0
Even BVS leaders agreed that Azmi's comment had hurt the sentiments of Maharashtrians.
"Action needs to be taken against Azmi as he has insulted Balasaheb. However, we have not yet decided on what has to be done," said Ramesh Solanki, Mumbai secretary.
Mooh Kala
According to Ravindra Waikar, the party MLAs were waiting for Azmi yesterday at the Vidhan Bhavan, as they wanted to blacken his face.
But, Azmi seemed to have anticipated trouble and did not show up. The 100-odd enraged Sainiks then moved towards the Samajawdi Party office in Colaba.
Getting wind of the Sena move, employees of the office informed the police, who managed to stop the Sainiks before they could inflict any damage.
However, a few workers, who were repairing the roof of the office, ran away fearing for their lives.
"We told them not to be afraid, but they dropped what they were doing and ran away.
We couldn't stop them and due to this the whole office was flooded with water and it damaged our furniture," said an SP worker at the office, requesting anonymity.
Our ideologies do not match, but I have not insulted Balasaheb. But if he feels I have insulted him, then I apologise.
They can beat me, tear my clothes and even break my hotel because I am a minority in the Assembly. I have done nothing wrong by taking the oath in Hindi.
Both the parties [Sena and MNS] want to indulge in vote politics. I request the parties to talk to me on issues that concern Maharashtra rather than doing this.
Abu Azmi, MLA, Samajwadi Party
We will apologise in the Assembly as it was not our intention to malign the u00a0image of the House. u00a0However, there is no u00a0question of apologising u00a0to Azmi.
The whole controversy u00a0started because of one u00a0person Abu Asim Azmi. It was not our intention to u00a0lower the dignity of the House. What happened was a spontaneous reaction by our MLAs.
Atul Sarpotdar, MNS Leader
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