Uddhav’s mouthpiece draws ‘Wagner Group’ parallel to attack Modi government

The Uddhav Thackeray faction of Shiv Sena on Monday while referring to opposition parties, claimed that a ‘Wagner Group’ in India will dislodge the Narendra Modi government through the ballot box.

Sena (UBT) faction’s mouthpiece ‘Saamana’ in an editorial recalled the opposition parties’ meeting in Patna last week, and drew comparisons to Yevgeny Prigozhin’s mercenary group which staged an armed rebellion in Russia before backing out hundred kilometres before Moscow.

The Saamana editorial said Wagner group showed “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,” PTI quoted the Sena mouthpiece as saying.

“Like Putin, Modi has to go, but in a democratic manner”, it added.

The Marathi daily claimed the Wagner group united in Patna as a protector of democracy, adding that the electronic voting machines (EVM) will not decide the results in 2024, the people will.

Last Friday, prominent opposition parties including Congress, Aam Aadmi Party, Trinamool Congress, Shiv Sena (UBT), DMK and RJD met in Patna wherein they resolved to ink a common minimum programme for a seat-sharing arrangement on a state-specific basis and an agitational programme on peoples’ issues at the next meeting in Shimla in July.

The Sena (UBT) editorial claimed there will be a Manipur-like situation in the country “if there is an EVM scam”. More than hundred people have been killed in the ethnic clashes between Meitei and Kuki communities in Manipur since violence first erupted on May 3.

Meiteis account for about 53 per cent of Manipur’s population and live mostly in the Imphal Valley. Tribals — Nagas and Kukis — constitute another 40 per cent of the population and reside in the hill districts.