Samajwadi Party stages dharna against Sanjay Raut, demands action - The Asian Age

Copies of the Shiv Sena mouthpiece Saamana being burnt during the dharna organised by the SP, led by their leader Abu Azmi—Debasish Dey

Samajwadi Party (SP) staged a dharna at Azad Maidan against senior Shiv Sena leader Sanjay Raut for his demand to revoke voting rights of Muslims. The party has even demanded strong action against Mr Raut for making the unconstitutional demand.

Mr Raut had stirred a controversy by demanding revocation of voting rights of Muslims in his column written Shiv Sena mouthpiece Saamana. In his column, he has argued that this would end the use of the community as a ‘vote bank’ by political parties. Mr Raut was strongly criticised across sections of the society.

To express anger against the demand, Samajwadi Party in the leadership of state president Abu Asim Azmi organised the dharna. Mr Azmi said that the Constitution of the country had given the fundamental right to all the citizens to exercise their vote.

“No one has the authority to revoke this right from citizens,” Mr Azmi said, adding, “The government should take strictest action against the Shiv Sena leader.”

Copies of Saamana newspaper were also burnt during the protest.

Later, Mr Raut retracted from the statement claiming the media had misinterpreted his statement. “I did not say Muslims should be deprived of their voting rights. The media wanted some news for the day and they misrepresented my statement,” the Shiv Sena leader had said.