Sena to ban Paswan only after Independence Day

Shiv Sena chief Bal Thackeray found an excuse in the 50 years of Indian Independence to backtrack on his threat to stop Railway Minister Ram Vilas Paswan entering Bombay on August 8.

He said Paswan would not be allowed to enter Maharashtra after August 15, and that he had deferred the protest keeping in mind the ongoing preparations for the celebrations of 50 years of Independence.

Thackeray was upset with Paswan for not starting the Konkan Railway from Dadar, near which the Sena chief also resides.

Reacting to the challenge offered by Janata Dal and Samajwadi Party, the Sena chief said, "The worms in the JD and the SP, whose party leaders are living on Congress oxygen should not dare to challenge us. Being in the ruling party has restrained our cadres, but our patience should not be considered as cowardice. The programmes scheduled on August 9 and 15 to celebrate the golden jubilee of our Independence are restraining us," he said.

The postponement of the agitation against the railway minister to some date after August 15 is considered a clever ploy to avoid embarrassing the ruling Sena-Bharatiya Janata Party alliance in the state with a possible law and order problem on the eve of Prime Minister I K Gujral's visit to Bombay. The fear that the state government may be dismissed following violence in the wake of the July 11 police firing on dalits still hangs over him.

Thackeray claimed, "We've postponed our agitation for the love of our country. Some newspapers may take this as a sign of our cowardice and capitulation. But we will never surrender before the eunuchs in JD and the SP, and the railway minister should not take the bait of his party workers and dare challenge us.

Let the minister behave in a responsible manner. But if he still insists on challenging us and visiting Maharashtra after August 15, he will be responsible for any untoward happening in the state. This is our warning. The worms (in the SP and the JD) should keep this is mind."