NEW DELHI. The National Commission for Minorities on April 1, demanded that the Maharashtra Government should prosecute Shiv Sena supremo Bal Thackeray for his anti-minority utterances which were “unconstitutional and threatened communal amity. reports say in a communication to the Maharashtra Chief Minister, Manohar Joshi, the commission chairman, Justice Mohammad Ali Khan, also sought a public statement from the state government to assure the Indian Muslims that it (the state government) would ensure their safety and security.

Demanding immediate initiation of the action by the Shiv Sena-BJP Government, the communication also called for action against other “offenders and taking of the necessary steps to restrain and prevent any threat to Muslims with a view to infuse a sense of security in the state.

The commission sent the communication to Joshi after taking a serious note of recent threats to Muslims reported to have been issued through the Shiv Sena mouth organ “Sana” newspaper.

The commission said the Shiv Sena chiefs utterances had caught the attention of the world as the latter had reportedly called upon Shiv Sainiks to engage in a joint operation with the Maharashtra state police to identify and oust illegal immigrants.

A time bound activity such as Thackeray’s is nothing but a political pogrom in the worst tradition of the Nazis, said the commission which is a statutory body created by an Act of Parliament.

The commission said the reported prescription of deadline of 15 days for expulsion of illegal immigrants and association of a political party with the state police force, displayed not only a flagrant disregard for law and its process but also directly seeks to cast a substantial burden of responsibility on local minority community.

It said the implied but obvious threat was that the minority community is the one which is responsible for or colludes with illegal immigration, that it is, therefore, guilty of extra territorial loyalty and hence, by direct implication, unpatriotic.

Article extracted from this publication >> April 7, 1995