Arrest warrant against Thackeray, Raut spices up polling day

Shiv Kumar
Tribune News Service
Mumbai, April 23

News of an arrest warrant issued by a local court today against Shiv Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray, Rajya Sabha MP Sanjay Raut and cartoonist Shrinivas Prabhudesai of party mouthpiece Saamna for a cartoon published in the newspaper nearly three years ago gained wide traction as the third phase of polling was underway in Maharashtra.

The arrest warrant by a magistrate’s court at Pusad in Yavatmal district was shared widely on social media by Maratha groups opposed to the Shiv Sena in Western Maharashtra, which went to the polls today.

The Magistrate’s court at Pusad in its order released here on Tuesday said the arrest warrant was being issued since the three did not present themselves in the court.

According to the petitioners the cartoon in Saamna, which showed a couple kissing and a play on words Mukh Morcha (silent protest) organised by Marathas for reservations in educational institutions and government jobs, hurt the sentiments of the community. The cartoon was captioned Mook Morcha or kiss protest.

Several Maratha organisations had attacked offices of Saamna shortly after the cartoon was published in 2016. Shortly afterwards, Saamna published an apology by the cartoonist.

Shiv Sena has since been playing down the episode and the party has been trying to share credit with the BJP for introducing 16 per cent reservations for the community.

However the arrest warrant shone the spotlight on the issue with the cartoon being shared widely again on Tuesday.