 "Drop Dawood, book preacher Zakir Naik: Shiv Sena to Centre")
The Shiv Sena on Monday asked the Centre to abandon plans to catch mafia dons like Dawood Ibrahim and Tiger Memon and instead book controversial Mumbai-based Islamic preacher Zakir Naik.
"Stop making announcements of dragging back Dawood or Tiger Memon from Pakistan...Now concentrate on Naik, this hidden enemy at home...Arrest him and throw him in the same cell as (hanged 26/11 Pakistani terrorist) Ajmal Kasab," the Sena said in an edit in the party mouthpiece Saamana.
Naik is under the scanner following revelations that two of the five young militants who massacred 20 hostages, including an Indian, at a popular cafe in Bangladesh's capital Dhaka on July 1, drew their inspiration from his speeches.
Mumbai-based Naik, who is expected to be back in the city this afternoon, has been facing the heat following reports that his alleged "provocative" speeches had inspired some of the militants who carried out Bangladesh's worst terror attack in a cafe in capital Dhaka.
The NDA ally also likened Zakir Naik's "social work" to the activities of Jaish-e-Mohammed chief Masood Azhar. The preacher has dismissed the allegations against him.
The party — a coalition partner with ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) both at the centre and in Maharashtra — said that until now the National Intelligence Agency, Central Bureau of Investigation and police of Maharashtra-Goa are hounding the Sanatan Sanstha right-wing Hindu organisation.
"The way fanatics like Pakistan-based Azhar Masood openly spew venom, people like Zakir Naik carry out through their social work in the name of peace by covert means...Naik has been nurturing anti-nationals for the last several years and the lessons in peace preached by him have been unmasked after the Dhaka carnage," the Sena said in a stinging editorial in its moutpiece "Saamana".
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"What about the propaganda and literature material of Naik — it is directly fuelling separatist elements in the country. It seems he is trying to become a messiah of the Muslims by pushing them into hell. A new type of unrest and 'Pakistan' is being created in India," the Sena said.
It urged the BJP governments in the centre and state "to display guts" and ban Naik and his Peace TV network all over the world, and demolish his propaganda machinery, as it is because of such pople that Muslims were not able to join the national mainstream.
Bolstering its argument, the Sena recently said an Islamic State (ISIS) den was found in Hyderabad whose chief Ibrahim Yezda had confessed to attending Naik's "peace camp" for 10 days.
"If this is the outcome of his 'peace camps'. then India is being weakned from such holes...The government can postpone its plans to bring back 'black money' from abroad, but first it must catch those who are funding Naik's peace initiatives and blow them off," the Sena urged.
It also accused the Indian agencies of getting cold feet while taking action against Naik, though it has gone very enthusiastically after Sanatan Sanstha and others — "Makes us wonder if its not Naik's diabolical mind working behind all this".
The party urged the government to immediately arrest Naik upon his return from a tour abroad, when he is scheduled to arrive later in the day.
Notably, the Bangladesh government banned the broadcast of Naik's Peace TV on Sunday, after reports that his "provocative" speeches inspired some of the Bangladeshi militants, who killed 22 people, mostly foreigners, at an upscale restaurant in Dhaka on July 1.