Shiv Sena ransacked Maharashtra Sadan
Sena MPs want Maharashtra Sadan solely for Marathis
By : suparna sharma
Update: 2014-07-24 02:27 GMT
Mumbai: Maharashtra only for Maharashtrians, including Maharashtra Sadan in New Delhi, was the repeated message of the 11 Shiv Sena MPs who ransacked the New Maharashtra Sadan on July 17 before they turned their wrath on Arshad Zubair S., the catering supervisor with Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation Ltd.
They were upset that while they had been given ordinary rooms, the VIP suite at Maharashtra Sadan had been allotted to Uttar Pradesh MPs, namely, Dr Satya Pal Singh, former IPS officer from Maharashtra, who, along with two other BJP MPs, witnessed the incident.
The Shiv Sena MPs were also upset that the catering deal had not been given to a Maharashtrian company.
“The manager Suhas Mamdapurkar (of Maharashtra Sadan) wanted us to go so that a Maharashtrian catering firm could be brought in. He would keep threatening the staff of IRCTC,” a staff member said.
What is shocking is that though everybody knew of the incident at the Sadan, no one registered a complaint. Not even the BJP MPs who were present.
On July 17, the MPs heckled the catering staff and told them, “Marathi aadmi chahiye. Aaj ke baad aap nazar nahin aane chahiye. They said such gandi baaten, that I can’t even repeat them (We need Marathi people. You shouldn’t be seen here after this day,” another witness said.
That was not the first time a demand for Maharashtrian caterer had been made. It was, however, the first time the demand had been put forward in “Shiv Sena style”, a phrase the MPs signed off with, on that day.