Shiv Sena dares BJP to take action against Naik

Trying to catch the BJP-led government in the state and Centre on the back-foot, the Shiv Sena dared Prime Minister Narendra Modi and chief minister Devendra Fadnavis to act against controversial televangelist and preacher Dr Zakir Naik. It claimed double standards in the state's investigations into the hardline Hindutva right-wing organisation Sanatan Sanstha while applying a different set of rules for Naik.

An editorial on Monday in the Shiv Sena mouthpiece Saamna said it was necessary for the state to deal with Naik instead of making claims of bringing fugitive underworld dons like Dawood Ibrahim and Tiger Memon to justice in India.

The newspaper has party president Uddhav Thackeray as the editor and Rajya Sabha MP Sanjay Raut as the executive editor. It also claimed that the four youth from Kalyan who fled India to join the ISIS were inspired by Naik. "Even then the National Security Agency (NSA), Mumbai Police are only undertaking the farce of conducting inquiries," the Shiv Sena charged.

"There is one principle for Sanatan and other for Zakir's Islamic Research Foundation," the editorial said. It added that while the CBI, NIA and the Mumbai and Goa police alleged that the material seized at the Sanatan Sanstha's ashrams and from its sadhaks was inflammatory, Naik's speeches were hardline and his material "encouraged the fragmentation of Hindustan."