Mumbai, Sep 19 (IANS) : Shiv Sena (UBT) Rajya Sabha MP Sanjay Raut on Saturday mounted a strong defence of the Thackeray family, alleging that renewed efforts to link them to the Disha Salian case were politically motivated and timed to coincide with the party’s resurgence in Maharashtra politics.
Addressing the media, Raut strongly rejected the renewed allegations surrounding the death of Disha Salian following a Rs 500-crore defamation lawsuit filed by her father, Satish Salian, against former ministers Aaditya Thackeray and Anil Deshmukh.
Satish Salian is expected to personally hand over the defamation notice by visiting Matoshree, the official residence of the Thackeray family at Bandra.
Raut questioned the selective claims of self-respect by complainants, labelling the fresh legal actions as a politically motivated smear campaign controlled by “outside forces.”
Calling Disha Salian’s 2020 death a tragedy that had already been acknowledged as an accident by her father in previous statements, Raut accused political opponents of unearthing resolved matters whenever the Thackeray family gains political momentum.
Moving beyond state politics, Raut levelled high-profile allegations directly targeting the Prime Minister and federal institutions. He alleged taxpayer money collected via UPI is being routed to the U.S. as extortion money to delay the public release of the international Epstein files, warning its fallout would trigger an earthquake in Indian politics.
Referencing RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat’s statement about the inevitable setting of the sun, Raut claimed it signals the political decline of Prime Minister Narendra Modi before 2029. He dismissed divine comparisons made by supporters, emphasising that the Prime Minister is a human being prone to errors, exhaustion, and false statements.
Raut accused the ECI of operating as a biased tool under Union Home Minister Amit Shah, citing recent arrests of opposition leaders and party symbol decisions as direct blows to democracy. He criticised recent actions, such as the arrest of a Congress candidate in West Bengal over an old protest and decisions regarding party symbols, characterising them as blows to Indian democracy.
