If President had spoken on Manipur incident, such cases won’t have taken place: Uddhav Thackeray

Mumbai: Shiv Sena (UBT) chief Uddhav Thackeray on Thursday said it was good that President Droupadi Murmu has expressed her anguish over crimes against women, but had she spoken after what happened in Manipur, such incidents would not have taken place.

Declaring that “enough is enough”, Murmu said it is time for India to wake up to the perversion of crimes against women and counter the mindset that sees women as less powerful, less capable, less intelligent. “Those who share such views then go further and see the female as an object We owe it to our daughters to remove the hurdles from their path of winning the freedom from fear,” the president said in an exclusive signed article for PTI.

Referring to the August 9 rape and murder of a junior doctor in a Kolkata hospital, a dismayed and horrified president said what is even more depressing is that it is part of a series of crimes against women.

Reacting to the remarks, Thackeray stated, “Probably it is for the first time the president said that she is petrified and that enough is enough. It is good. We got to know that the president also has that (same) emotions. But had she spoken during the Manipur incident after she became the president, further incidents would not have taken place.”

The former CM did not elaborate, but he was apparently referring to a video showing two women being stripped and paraded by a mob in violence-hit Manipur. The incident took place in May 2023 and a video of the assault surfaced a few months later, triggering a nation-wide outrage. “Do we keep counting (the crimes) and then say enough is enough?” Thackeray asked, speaking at an event of the Ganeshotsav Coordination Committee. The Sena (UBT) leader accused the BJP, his former ally, of using the British policy of divide and rule and creating a wedge among different sections of society.

On the eve of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to Maharashtra, Thackeray said it took some time for him to speak on the unrest in Manipur, and it has to be seen if he expresses his views on the Badlapur incident (sexual assault on two kindergarten girls) or the rape-murder of a doctor in West Bengal, on Friday. Thackeray said there is a need for ‘Shakti law’ (with stringent punishments for crimes against women, including the death penalty), though the existing legislations are strong enough to deal with the menace, but what if those who implement them are “goons”.

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