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Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Aaditya Thackeray condemned the alleged slapping of an auto-rickshaw driver by a BJP MLA, asserting that the incident was not highlighted enough.
He also emphasised that if the victim belonged to another community, the matter would have been widely escalated. The Shiv Sena (UBT) leader further stressed that assaulting any individual is a crime. "The issue on which he slapped the other person, is where I see the perception with which media reports were done. Had this person been of another community, this matter would have been escalated a lot. This issue was not highlighted enough. Assaulting anyone is a crime, but if they are frustrated with the rule of their own government, it indicates that the government is not working and is useless," Thackeray told reporters. Earlier, BJP MLA Parag Shah allegedly slapped an auto-rickshaw driver in Ghatkopar. In a viral video, Shah was seen confronting the driver for allegedly driving in the wrong direction. Mumbai Congress Committee President Varsha Eknath Gaikwad, who shared the video and condemned the incident, alleged that the BJP takes pride in beating up poor, working-class people. "BJP MLAs have become so arrogant that they don't spare poor rickshaw drivers. In Ghatkopar, BJP MLA Parag Shah beat up a rickshaw driver today because he violated traffic rules. It's only because they are the father of the Home Minister that BJP MLAs take the law into their own hands, and now they're even brawling on the streets! This is the real BJP. The BJP rolls out the red carpet for big industrialists and contractors, and takes pride in beating up the poor, working-class people!" said Gaikwad. Following the incident, BJP MLA Parag Shah claimed that he had signalled to the auto-rickshaw driver to stop on the wrong side of the road, but despite others stopping him, the driver did not listen. Hence, in a moment of anger, he slapped the driver. However, he admitted that the driver should not have been slapped. "In Ghatkopar, for the last few months, hawkers, scooter riders, and auto-rickshaw drivers have become a nuisance, people can't live there. Senior citizens can't go out on the streets in the evening. Children are afraid to cross the road. So this is a kind of encroachment, which in our language, we call a kind of jihad. We had organised a protest against that. We were explaining to the shopkeepers who have encroached on the road... At that same time, an auto-rickshaw was coming from the wrong side. We signalled him to stop. But he wasn't ready to stop, and the speed he was going at was like someone driving a racing car on an expressway. He was stopped by all the workers together. The lady passenger sitting in the rickshaw said that she had been telling him for a long time to drive the rickshaw properly. But this man wasn't ready to listen. Yes, he shouldn't have been beaten. In a moment of anger, I also hit him...Challan, penalty was imposed against him..." Shah told ANI. (ANI)
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