'Muslims have Pakistan. Where will Jains go?' asks Shiv Sena

Mumbai: Sending a shcoker towards the Jain community with regards to the meat ban, the Shiv Sena raised a scathing question: ''Jains must not follow the path of Muslims and become fanatics. At least Muslims have Pakistan to go to. Where will the Jains go?"

In an editorial article published in the party's mouthpiece Saamana on Thursday, Shiv Sena criticised the Jain community for seeking the ban on meat in the city during Prayushan Parva. The Prayushan Parva, an eight-day Jain festival, is marked by the community with fasting and prayers. As non-violence forms one of the basic tenets of the religion, the members of the community had sought a ban on meat during the festival, and the authorities conceded, announcing a four-day ban.

The Shiv Sena was vocal about its unhappiness over the ban, warning the Jain community, in the same editorial, not to take on the “sons of the soil” with such demands.

Threatening that the community would bite the dust if it persisted with such demands, the article further questioned the sincerity of the community towards such philosophies, citing the 1992-93 riots.

“Sena protected their businesses and the community from mobs then. Many of them queued up outside Matoshree, wanting to thank Balasaheb for this. Why didn’t they remember this doctrine of non-violence then?” asked the editorial. It even pulled up the question of black money that the community's vast nexus of builders are allegedly prone to accept. "A large number of the city’s builders are Jains and have no qualms accepting black money from flat buyers. Accepting black money is a sin and also a form of violence. Do they stop accepting black money during Paryushan?"