A day after Shiv Sena MLA Pratap Sarnaik raised a breach of privilege motion against Shobhaa De, the party through its mouthpiece lashed out at the author calling it Maharashtra’s misfortune that a Marathi woman herself insulted the language and the culinary traditions of its people. Referring to De as ‘Shobha Aunty’, an editorial in Saamna said, “It would have been fine if someone else had said something like this on Twitter, but it is Maharashtra’s misfortune that a Marathi woman like Shobha Aunty has tweeted this.” The editorial said had it not been for leaders such as Chhatrapati Shivaji and Shiv Sena chief Bal Thackeray, “all of Shobhaa aunty’s previous and current generations would have been born in Pakistan and would have perhaps celebrated Page 3 parties in a burkha.” De had tweeted against the state government’s decision to direct multiplexes to screen Marathi films in prime time slots. She had also said popcorn could soon be replaced by Dahi Misal and Vada Pav. The editorial said the government should actually take De’s suggestion into consideration and think about Dahi Misal and Vada Pav in multiplexes. With BJP leader Vinod Tawde, also the state’s minister for culture and Marathi language, appeasing the Marathi population through a slew of decisions, the Shiv Sena’s verbal attack on De saw the party attempting to reclaim its pro-Marathi platform. “It is after all a vote bank of Marathi people. In Maharashtra if we are not supposed to make Marathi people happy then are we supposed to make your Owaisi happy? What about all the measures that are taken to appeal to the Muslim votebank?” the editorial said. Party leaders later protested outside De’s house in Cuffe Parade on Thursday.
