Witchcraft practice on rise in Maharashtra post-Shinde govt formation: Saamana

Superstition-driven incidents like black magic and witchcraft are rising in Maharashtra ever since the Eknath Shinde-Devendra Fadnavis government assumed office in June last year, said Shiv Sena (Uddhav Thackeray faction) in an editorial, pointing out inexplicable incidents involving Opposition leaders.

In an editorial in its mouthpiece Saamana, the Uddhav Thackeray-led faction of the Shiv Sena said there are talks that when Chief Minister Eknath Shinde and 40 MLAs belonging to the rebel camp went to the renowned Kamakhya temple in Guwahati, they performed “acts of black magic and sacrificed male buffaloes”.

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This, it is told, was to ensure stability of the post of chief minister, said the Marathi daily.
It appears that after the Shinde-Fadnavis khoke sarkar (a reference to Shinde-Fadnavis government) came to power, instances of superstition like black magic, witchcraft, are on the rise and there are talks of these acts in Mantralaya (state secretarait) and government offices, said the editorial.

Maharashtra is a progressive state, where there is no place for black magic, but after Shinde’s black magic government has come to power, instances of opponents accidents and treachery are suddenly on the rise,” said the publication.

The editorial that it is not right if people link these accidents and instances of treachery with “government-sponsored witchcraft”.

Chain of incidents

However, the Marathi publication sought to connect recent incidents involving Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) leaders Supriya Sule, Ajit Pawar, Dhananjay Munde and Congress MLA and former minister Balasaheb Thorat with black magic and asked what does this chain of incidents indicates.

On Monday, Sule’s saree caught fire while lighting a lamp at an event in Pune. Pawar had a close shave from a freak lift accident in a Pune hospital. The Leader of Opposition in the Assembly was in a lift and going to the fourth floor from third when electricity suddenly went off and the elevator plunged to the ground floor.

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Thorat was injured in an accident while taking a walk in a garden during the winter session of the Maharashtra Assembly held in Nagpur last month.

Munde, whom the editorial described as a strong voice of the Opposition, suffered injuries in a road accident in Beed district in the first week of January.

(With agency inputs)