An editorial in the Shiv Sena organ 'Saamna', which has party president Uddhav Thackeray as the editor and Rajya Sabha MP Sanjay Raut as the executive editor, noted that it was those (BJP) who criticised the midnight crackdown on yoga guru Baba Ramdeo's protest by the erstwhile Manmohan Singh-led Congress government are now in power.
Taking a strong stance in favour of the demand by ex-servicemen to implement the much-delayed one rank one pension scheme (OROP), the Shiv Sena has criticised the treatment meted out to these protestors on the eve of Independence Day in New Delhi.
An editorial in the Shiv Sena organ 'Saamna', which has party president Uddhav Thackeray as the editor and Rajya Sabha MP Sanjay Raut as the executive editor, noted that it was those (BJP) who criticised the midnight crackdown on yoga guru Baba Ramdeo's protest by the erstwhile Manmohan Singh-led Congress government are now in power. The ex-servicemen are a significant constituency in parts of Maharashtra.
"The action of Delhi police seemed to suggest that they would be ready to even kick the ex-servicemen if they did not go away from the protest site. This incident, on the eve of Independence Day, was shameful and disturbing," the editorial which appeared in the newspaper on Monday said.
Justifying the OROP demand, it said, "If rank is similar, pension should be the same as well. This is nature's law. But these people had to fight their own government to get justice. This demand is continuing from many years and it is also justified."
The MPs, MLAs and government servants manage to get their salaries increased, but the government, instead of considering the demands of ex-servicemen who face bullets in extreme weather conditions, is being evasive on the issue, the Sena said.
It further said that it is the Modi government's responsibility to ensure that injustice being meted out to ex-servicemen stops.
"After being chosen as the BJP's prime ministerial candidate, Narendra Modi had on September 15, 2013, while addressing ex-servicemen in Rewari, promised that his government would implement OROP. It has been one-and-a-half year since then. The Centre should take immediate steps on the issue," it said.
The Narendra Modi government has been maintaining that it is committed to OROP, a key promise made during Lok Sabha polls.
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