'Wagner group' will dislodge Modi govt through ballot, says Shiv Sena (UBT)

MUMBAI: The Shiv Sena (UBT) on Monday claimed the “Wagner group” in India, a reference to opposition parties, will dislodge the Narendra Modi government through the ballot box by using the path of non-violence.

In a dramatic development last week, Wagner mercenary group chief Yevgeny Prigozhin called for an armed rebellion and claimed his forces had military facilities in Russia's southern city of Rostov-on-Don under their control. It also started its march to Moscow.

Russian President Vladimir Putin called the rebellion a betrayal and an act of treason. Later, Prigozhin said he has ordered his mercenaries to halt their march on Moscow and retreat to their field camps in Ukraine to avoid shedding Russian blood, following negotiations carried out by the Belarusian president.

An editorial in the Sena (UBT) mouthpiece 'Saamana' drew a parallel between Wagner mercenary group's “revolt against Russian President Putin” and the meeting of opposition parties in Patna last week.

Drawing the battle lines, over 32 leaders of more than a dozen opposition parties held a crucial meeting in Patna hosted by Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar on Friday and resolved to take on the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) unitedly in the 2024 Lok Sabha polls.

The editorial in Saamana said the “Wagner group” has shown dictatorship can be challenged.

Be it Modi or Putin, they have to face rebellion. The government in India will be dislodged by a non-violent Wagner and that route will be through the ballot box, it claimed.

Like Putin, Modi has to go, but in a democratic manner, it said.

The Wagner group came together in Patna as a protector of democracy, the Marathi daily said, referring to the conclave of the opposition parties in Bihar capital last week.

It further said the Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs) will not decide the results in 2024, but people will.

If there is an EVM scam, then there will be a Manipur-like situation in the country, such is the anger among people against the government, the editorial claimed.

Nearly 120 people have lost their lives and more than 3,000 injured since the ethnic violence erupted in Manipur on May 3. A large number of houses were torched rendering many people homeless in the violence between Meitei and Kuki communities.

The editorial also claimed the BJP has kept many people, like Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde's group, as its “protector”, and tomorrow the same people will “stab” them.

Shinde led a revolt against the Shiv Sena leadership in June last year, leading to a split in the party and collapse of the Uddhav Thackeray-led Maha Vikas Aghadi government.

Later, Shinde became the CM with the BJP's support.