India will break like Russia if states are destabilised: Sanjay Raut

In a statement that is snowballing into a major issue, Shiv Sena chief spokesperson Sanjay Raut said that India will break like Russia if the Centre keeps on destabilizing state governments.

“If those who are in power at the Centre don't realise that they are doing people of the country a disservice by indulging in politicking, there would be break up of states in the country like how Russia had disintegrated,” Raut said in his weekly column ‘Rokhthok’, that appeared in the Shiv Sena mouthpiece Saamana.

Raut went on to add that the Centre-states relations vis-à-vis non-BJP ruled states were not at its best. “The fact that states that have non-BJP governments belong to the country is being forgotten,” he said.

Raut is the executive editor of Saamana and a close aide of Maharashtra chief minister Uddhav Thackeray.

The BJP has lashed out at Shiv Sena and Raut for the column that appeared as a 2020 year-ender.

BJP spokesperson Ram Kadam wanted to know if Congress president Sonia Gandhi, her son Rahul Gandhi and NCP supremo Sharad Pawar – who are partners in the Maha Vikas Aghadi government – agree to what Raut has said.

“What Raut is saying about the breaking up of states is an insult to martyrs,” Kadam said.

Senior BJP leader Atul Bhatkhalkar said that Shiv Sena is in alliance with Congress which supports the ‘tukde-tukde gang’. “The country is totally united under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi,” he said, adding that a case of sedition must be lodged against Raut.

In the article, Raut has criticised the BJP and lashed out at Modi on various issues. “The Prime Minister is of the entire country…but Prime Minister (Modi) takes keen interest in toppling state governments,” he said.

Raut alleged that the government went all out to save Bollywood actor Kangana Ranaut and Republic Media Network’s editor-in-chief Arnab Goswami. “The Mumbai metro carshed has been blocked because of (BJP’s) ego,” he said.