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By:

Quaid Najmi

4 January 2025 at 3:26:24 pm

SS MP threatens to ‘bomb’ political opponents

Journalists staged a protest outside Balasaheb Bhavan against Shiv Sena MP Sanjay Dina Patil, condemning his alleged remarks against members of the media. Pic: Bhushan Koyande Mumbai: Mumbai North-East MP Sanjay Dina-Patil – who recently defected to the ruling ally Shiv Sena apparently went haywire on Thursday, hurling bomb threats at political opponents, spitting expletives at protestors, warning jounos of assault and warning anybody “to do whatever you can”, sparking a massive political...

SS MP threatens to ‘bomb’ political opponents

Journalists staged a protest outside Balasaheb Bhavan against Shiv Sena MP Sanjay Dina Patil, condemning his alleged remarks against members of the media. Pic: Bhushan Koyande Mumbai: Mumbai North-East MP Sanjay Dina-Patil – who recently defected to the ruling ally Shiv Sena apparently went haywire on Thursday, hurling bomb threats at political opponents, spitting expletives at protestors, warning jounos of assault and warning anybody “to do whatever you can”, sparking a massive political furore. Elected on a Shiv Sena (UBT) ticket, Dina-Patil lost his temper when he was questioned on his daughter and SS (UBT) Municipal Corporator Rajool Patil who went to meet ex-CM Uddhav Thackeray to express her allegiance despite her father’s defection to the Shiv Sena led by Deputy CM Eknath Shinde. Instead of replying, Dina-Patil, reported to be short-tempered, blew his top and reacted aggressively with abuses: “Record this on camera… I have spoken to you for 2 minutes, I respect you, you should do the same… Don’t mess with me. If you return here, I will thrash and send you back. I am saying this in front of the police, you do whatever you want.” Just a couple of days ago, Dina-Patil had threatened SS (UBT) workers protesting against him. “Anybody who tries to cross my path, I will send them to the crematorium or the hospital. We have committed five murders in the past. If you protest against me, I will throw bombs on you and enter your house to hammer you.” As these threats and unparliamentary language stoked a massive political row, SS (UBT) MP Sanjay Raut shot off a letter to Mumbai Commissioner of Police Deven Bharti, demanding that the police probe all the statements of Dina-Patil and ‘book him for murder’. On the alleged bomb threats, Raut said if Dina-Patil had acquired the explosives from some terrorist organisation, he should be arrested under the dreaded Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, dealing with terrorism, terming it as a matter of national security. Political Explosion The matter escalated into a full-fledged political brawl with Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) leaders like Congress’ Nana Patole, Vijay Wadettiwar; SS (UBT)’s Aditya Thackeray, Sunil Raut, Sushma Andhare; Nationalist Congress Party (SP)’s Supriya Sule, Dr. Jitendra Awhad, Jayant R. Patil, and many more, attacking Dina-Patil and demanding that Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis must act in the matter. Aditya challenged Dina-Patil to instantly quit as MP, recontest in the name of Shinde or PM Narendra Modi and then see the outcome. Andhare said till the MPs were with SS (UBT), they were cultured but after walking over to the Shiv Sena, they have lost all their etiquettes or fear of the laws. Faced with an embarrassing backlash, Bharatiya Janata Party’s Chandrashekhar Bawankule and Shiv Sena’s Omprakash Babarao alias Bachhu Kadu quickly tendered unconditional apologies to the media on behalf of Dina-Patil, while Minister Girish Mahajan attempted to equate the outburst with recent strong language used by Sanjay Raut, who had said that “Shinde has given birth to 6 traitors”. On Raut’s letter to the CoP, a defiant Dina-Patil declared: “Whatever I said, I did it openly. If the police feel any action is to be taken against me, I am ready to face the consequences.” He again slammed the media persons for "thrusting microphones at him”, going to the ‘other side’ (the MVA) and then returning to quiz him, prompting the TV Journalists Association and other media groups to protest and seek action against the belligerent MP. “Has the MP been provided (Y-Plus) security at public expense to threaten the media which is doing its duty or the political protesters?” asked an irate TV reporter. Dina-Patil launched a broadside against the MVA and dared those who dubbed him a ‘traitor’ to come to his constituency without any security. On the incident of five murders, he airily said: “It had happened before I was born”, but Raut retorted claiming to possess details of all those alleged killings. “I don’t need an entourage of 10 vehicles as I rule the hearts of the people. I have aligned myself with ‘real men’. Shinde Saheb has commended me for my stand,” he claimed. Fadnavis and Shinde commented briefly on the matter and later were closeted in a meeting to discuss the fallout of Dina-Patil’s utterances especially after the media launched strong protests in different parts of Mumbai.

How Singh defended 1991 Union budget

Updated: Jan 2, 2025

Manmohan Singh

New Delhi: Manmohan Singh, the architect of India's economic reforms, had to literally face a trial-by-fire to ensure widespread acceptance of his path-breaking 1991 Union budget that saw the nation rise from its darkest financial crises.


Singh, the newly-appointed finance minister in the PV Narasimha Rao-led government, did it with great elan -- from facing journalists at a post-budget press conference to irate Congress leaders unable to digest the wide-ranging reforms at the parliamentary party meeting.


Singh's historic reforms not only rescued India from near bankruptcy but also redefined its trajectory as a rising global power.


Singh made an unscheduled appearance at a press conference on July 25, 1991, a day after the presentation of the Union budget, "to ensure that the message of his budget did not get distorted by less-than-enthusiastic officials", Congress leader Jairam Ramesh wrote in his book "To the Brink and Back: India's 1991 Story" that recounts the fast-paced changes that took place after Rao became prime minister in June 1991.


"The finance minister explained his budget - calling it 'a budget with a human face'. He painstakingly defended the proposals to increase fertiliser, petrol and LPG prices," Ramesh recounted in the book published in 2015.


Ramesh was an aide to Rao during his initial months in office.


Sensing the disquiet in the Congress ranks, Rao called a meeting of the Congress Parliamentary Party (CPP) on August 1, 1991, and decided to allow party MPs to "vent their spleen freely".


"The prime minister stayed away and allowed Manmohan Singh to face the flak on his own," Ramesh wrote, adding that two more meetings took place on August 2 and 3, in which Rao was present throughout.


"In the CPP meetings, the finance minister cut a lonely figure and the prime minister did nothing to alleviate his distress," Ramesh recounted.


Only two MPs - Mani Shankar Aiyar and Nathuram Mirdha - backed budget wholeheartedly.


Aiyar had supported the budget, contending that it conformed to Rajiv Gandhi's beliefs on what needed to be done to stave off the financial crisis.

Bowing to pressure from the party, Singh had agreed to lower the 40 per cent increase in fertiliser prices to 30 per cent but had left the hike in LPG and petrol prices untouched.


The Cabinet Committee on Political Affairs met twice on August 4 and 5, 1991, to decide on the statement Singh would make in the Lok Sabha on August 6.


"The statement dropped the idea of a rollback, which had been demanded over the past few days but now spoke of protecting the interests of small and marginal farmers," Ramesh said in his book.


"Both sides had won. The party had forced a rethink but the fundamentals of what the government wanted -- the decontrol of prices of fertilisers other than urea and an increase in urea prices -- had been preserved," he recounted.

"This was political economy at its constructive best -- a textbook example of how the government and the party can collaborate to create a win-win situation for both," he added in the book.

-PTI

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