Samata Party delegation meets Shinde for help to retrieve 'flaming torch' symbol from UBT faction
Thane (PTI): A delegation of Samata Party from Bihar met Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde here and sought his help in getting back its 'mashaal' (flaming torch) election symbol that has been allotted to the Shiv Sena faction led by Uddhav Thackeray.
The delegation, led by the party president Uday Mandal, met Shinde at the latter's office in Thane on Tuesday evening.
This information was shared by Shinde's city-based office through a release.
The meeting comes days after the Election Commission (EC) recognised the Shinde-led faction as the real Shiv Sena, and allotted the 'bow and arrow' symbol to it. It also ruled that the 'flaming torch' symbol it had allotted to the Uddhav Thackeray-led Sena group last year, will remain with it till the conclusion of the Kasba Peth and Chinchwad Assembly bypolls in Pune district scheduled on February 26.
The delegation told Shinde that Samata Party was an old political outfit from Bihar and "mashaal" (flaming torch) was its election symbol. However after the change in power in Maharashtra, the EC allotted it to the Shiv Sena faction led by Thackeray, the release said.
The delegation also told Shinde that they would challenge the EC's decision in the Supreme Court to get back their symbol, it added.
The delegation sought CM Shinde's help in getting back the Samata Party's election symbol the way his faction got the 'bow and arrow' symbol.
The Samata Party - formed in 1994 by Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar and the late leader George Fernandes - had earlier both complained to the EC against the allotment of the symbol of Thackeray's party in October last year and moved the Delhi High Court against it, but the high court had dismissed the case claiming it had no right over deciding party symbols.
The Samata Party had been derecognised by the EC in 2004.
While allotting the flaming torch symbol to the Thackeray faction last year, the EC had said the symbol was not in the list of free symbols and was an "erstwhile reserved symbol" of the now derecognised Samata Party but it has decided to allot the same on a request to declare it a free symbol.
Meanwhile, Shiv Sena (Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray) leader and Thane MP Rajan Vichare has submitted a letter to city Police Commissioner Jai Jeet Singh, urging him to thwart any attempts by the Shinde group to usurp the Shiv Sena 'shakhas' (local party offices) in the city.
"Since the birth of Shiv Sena 56 years back, several Shakas have been set up in the city. The ownership of some of them are with the Sena (UBT) and some are private premises and in the custody of the party. The Shinde group grabbed some of the shakhas through force and some others are being grabbed using muscle power," he alleged.
In order to avoid a law and order situation, the police machinery should not encourage the Shinde group and give it a warning. If any law and order situation arises, it will be the sole responsibility of the Shinde group and the police, Vichare added in the letter.
On Tuesday, Maharashtra cabinet minister Deepak Kesarkar, who is the spokesperson of the Shinde faction, said his group was not interested in taking over the Shiv Sena Bhavan in Mumbai or any other property linked to the rival camp headed by Thackeray.
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HC rejects plea seeking permission for protest against Gaza `genocide'
CPM decries court's view
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Mumbai (PTI): The Bombay High Court on Friday rejected a petition filed by the Communist Party of India (Marxist) against Mumbai police's refusal to allow a protest against the alleged genocide in Gaza, and advised the party to focus on domestic issues.
The CPI(M) criticised the court's remarks, claiming that it ignored constitutional freedoms and India's traditional support for Palestinian freedom and statehood.
The party moved the court after the police last month denied the All India Peace and Solidarity Organisation a permission to stage a rally at Azad Maidan ground in south Mumbai to protest the "genocide" in Gaza.
A bench of Justices Ravindra Ghuge and Gautam Ankhad dismissed the petition, stating that the party should concentrate on problems affecting the country instead of focusing on issues thousands of miles away.
Advocate Mihir Desai, appearing for the CPI(M), told the HC that police denied permission on the ground that it could lead to a law and order problem.
But citizens have the right to demonstrate at a spot designated for such events, and the possibility of law and order situation could not be a reason to deny that right, he contended.
The court, however, did not accept the argument.
In a statement, CPI (M) criticised the court's stand.
"The Polit Bureau of the CPI (M) strongly condemns the observations of the Bombay High Court bench while rejecting an application by the party to challenge the Mumbai Police's refusal to allow a protest action against the ongoing Israeli genocide in Gaza," it said.
While rejecting the plea, the court called into question the patriotism of the party, the CPI (M) claimed.
The HC also opined that the party does not understand `what this could do to the foreign affairs of the country' and, instead of taking up issues such as garbage dumping, pollution, sewerage and flooding it was protesting about something happening far away on foreign land, the CPI (M) further claimed.
The HC appeared to be unaware of either the provisions of the Constitution which enshrines the rights of a political party, or the "history of our country and our people's solidarity with the Palestinians and their legitimate right to homeland," the party said.
The HC observations appeared to be "in line with the central government," the CPI (M) said.
Mahatma Gandhi, the national movement and "subsequent foreign policy of independent India" had not flinched from supporting the cause of Palestinian people's right to freedom and homeland, the party said.
The HC also did not take into account "unequivocal condemnation globally against Israeli action and the stated positions of the UN bodies and the International Court of Justice," the CPI(M) said.
